Logic and Illogic
by coolhacker1025
Summary: Hermione's third friend was an enigma. She was an enigma by the name Luna Lovegood. How does logic meet with such illogic? Eventual Hr/L, Harry!bashing, femme!slash. The second chapter is a version of the story with a different antagonist
1. Bad Harry

Logic and Illogic

by: coolhacker1025

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters involved. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, et. al Warnings: possibly Harry!bashing, femmeslash, eventual Hermione/Luna

\\\/

Hermione Granger had unusual friends. Her first friend at school was Harry Potter, a boy who'd somehow managed to defeat Voldemort as a baby, and then multiple times as a student. While he didn't have the best work ethic, he clearly was better than her at certain subjects, like when they had Defence Against the Dark Arts, as taught by a competent professor.

Her second friend, Ron Weasley, was from a large family. She noticed that this seemed to give him a very large inferiority complex. He was very lazy, and spent most of his time playing chess or talking about Quidditch (especially his favourite team, the Chudley Cannons). This year had gone even further: Ron had gained a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and was not spending much time on homework or revising at all. It was only due to her hard work forcing him to revise for exams that allowed him to pass with a score better than "P".

Hermione's third friend was an enigma. She was an enigma by the name Luna Lovegood. She was a Ravenclaw fourth year, and one of the brightest students in the school. Hermione hadn't really noticed this until she started to encounter the girl more often, due to the DA and the fact that Luna's father owned a newspaper that was considered in opposition to the official Ministry story.

What caused Hermione to go crazy was the fact that Luna claimed to believe in so many creatures that Hermione was sure did not exist. Part of Luna's being was that she would believe something with very little proof, and then look for clues that it was true/did exist/whatever applied to the situation. This was completely in opposition to Hermione's need for facts.

Somehow, due to the increased contact with the girl, she'd become friends with her.

\\\/

"Umbridge let you out early tonight, mate?" asked Ron as his best friend Harry walked into the Common Room.

"Something to do with the Twins, I believe," said Harry. "Where's Hermione?"

"Dunno," said his friend. "She's been sneaking out almost every time you have detention with She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or a 'remedial potions' class with Snape. I thought she was keeping an eye on you."

"I don't think she is," said Harry. He really hoped that his best female friend wasn't doing something completely stupid, like collaborating with the Twins to overthrow the Toad-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Funny thing is, she always has her homework done, just like usual," said Ron. "Come to think of it, she usually arrives before you do most nights."

"This is Hermione we're talking about," said Harry. "She's probably just gone to the library."

He noticed her walking into the Common Room.

"You're back early," said Hermione. "Umbridge distracted by something?"

"The Twins, I think," said Harry. "Where were you?"

"The library," said Hermione, slightly flustered.

Even Harry could tell that she wasn't being completely truthful.

\\\/

Hermione had seen Luna around the school many times over the years, but they didn't really meet until Hermione's fourth year. Hermione was in the library when the strange girl came over to her and started to correct her runes translation.

"How do you know so much about runes?" Hermione had asked the girl.

"Oh, Daddy does an article about them every so often," said the blond-haired girl in that airy voice of hers.

"I don't want to be rude," started Hermione. "But who exactly are you? I don't think that you are a fourth-year, as I've never seen you in class."

"I'm Luna Lovegood," said the girl. "Ravenclaw third year."

"Why exactly did you come over to see me?"

"The Nargles told me to," said the strange girl.

"The what?" asked Hermione.

"The Nargles," repeated Luna. "They are quite mysterious and mischievous creatures. They are known to infect Mistletoe."

"But why did you come here?"

"You needed it," said Luna. "Perhaps you need someone to talk to. Other than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."

_Luna does have a point,_ thought Hermione.

\\\/

The second time that Hermione met Luna was before the Second Task when Hermione was helping Harry to research ways to complete the task.

"You don't want that section," Luna told her. "Magical plants will help Harry Potter with his goal. I don't know which, but asking someone might help."

"Which what?" asked Hermione.

"You are a thoroughly confusing individual, Hermione Granger," said Luna. "I meant which plant. Although I suppose that I could have also meant which goal. The Wrackspurts interfered with my line of thought."

"I could say that you are also a thoroughly confusing individual, Luna," said Hermione. "I've never heard of these Nargles or Wrackspurts before."

\\\/

"Perhaps I'll take a look on the Map the next time," said Harry after they'd gone to the dormitories. "See what or who she's doing."

Something was telling him that he should keep a closer eye on her; he failed to realise that he was beginning to feel jealous of the girl and her mysterious activities.

\\\/

Aside from a couple of meetings in the hall, Hermione didn't see Luna again until the next year. Hermione had become a prefect, and was on a carriage with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Ginny.

"Who's that?" asked Harry.

"Oh, her?" laughed Ginny. "That's Looney—I mean, Luna Lovegood. She's the same year as me, except Ravenclaw."

Hermione noticed the way that Luna held her copy of the _Quibbler _upside down, wearing those ridiculous glasses that were supposed to see Nargles or whatever.

She noticed the way that Luna put her wand behind her ear.

"She's actually quite brilliant," said Hermione. "She knows almost as much as I do."

Hermione blushed at her admission, but nobody, not even Luna, noticed.

\\\/

Hermione didn't know how she and Luna became good friends, but it happened that year. They were together more often due to DA meetings, and had gradually become friends.

It was one of Hermione's stranger friendships, but it was a friendship.

Hermione found herself meeting Luna in the library much more often, as both boys were at Quidditch practise, and therefore didn't need her supervision. They would talk about all sorts of things, even things that weren't related to schoolwork. It was hard sometimes for Hermione to remember that Luna was a year (and some) younger than she was.

There was just something about the illogic.

\\\/

"Well, she's in the library now," said Harry, stalking Hermione through the Marauder's Map. "She's there with Luna. I wonder what they are doing?"

\\\/

Luna was much more advanced than her age would indicate. She knew potions that Hermione was just learning about (and could correct Hermione's papers if need be), her Transfiguration skills were amazing, her charmswork was awesome.

Yet she kept talking about all of her creatures, and how the Minister was murdering Goblins, baking them into pies. And Hermione kept listening.

_Is there an ounce of truth in Luna's statements?_ Hermione thought to herself. Luna's illogic was outstanding.

\\\/

"Now, they've disappeared off the map," Harry commented later that year. He'd been monitoring Hermione when he could, due to his ardent belief that she'd do something stupid without him and Ron, or that Draco would corner her. "But that's impossible."

Somehow, concern for Hermione became something darker.

\\\/

Somehow, friendship turned to love. The combination of logic and illogic was astounding, but it worked.

Their first kiss was a mistake. Rather, their first kiss on the lips was a mistake.

It was after a DA meeting, and Hermione and Luna were the only ones left in the Room. Even Harry had already left.

She only meant to kiss Luna's cheek, but Luna moved at just the right time. They kissed on the lips. Then, by some unspoken agreement, they continued to kiss for another minute.

Just because something is a mistake doesn't mean that it can't be good.

Hermione used her prefect status to escort Luna back to the Ravenclaw Common Room, where Hermione met the bronze door-knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?" it asked.

"No password, just a riddle?" asked Hermione of Luna, who nodded before answering the riddle.

"A circle has no beginning," answered the younger witch, who turned to Hermione and kissed her again before going through the now-open door to the Common Room.

Hermione smiled as she went back to Gryffindor Tower. She almost wish she hadn't gone back to the Tower.

"Where have you been?" asked Harry. "You could have been attacked or caught?"

"I was using my prefect status to escort a friend home," she replied. "Not that it's any of your business."

"_He_'s back, Hermione," said Harry angrily. "_He _won't hesitate to curse you, maim you, rape you, just to get at me!"

"Come off it, Harry," said Hermione. "I am more than capable of defending myself. If I choose to have company, then so be it. Also, I am a Big Girl. I don't need anyone, especially not 10 months my junior, telling me what to do."

She stormed off to the Girl's Dormitory.

"She is right, Harry," admitted Ginny. "I would hate it if you or Ron kept as annoyingly a close eye on me as you do Hermione."

Harry growled in response.

\\\/

"What happened, Hermione?" asked Luna the next time they met. It was a couple of days later, in the library.

"Harry's being an ass," said Hermione. "An overbearing, overprotective, stalking ass."

"What's he doing?"

"Warning me about not being near him as much as possible," Hermione replied. "Stalking me with a family heirloom that shows the location of everyone in the school. I don't know what he'd be like if he thought that we were more than friends."

"Harry Potter is infested with Wrackspurts, Hermione," said her partner. "He can't understand why suddenly you abandon him after all these years."

"I'm not abandoning him!" exclaimed Hermione, albeit quietly, as they were in the library. "I just lo...I'm just more fond of you at this point."

Luna held her hand up in a placating gesture. "I know that you aren't abandoning him," she said. "You're just using your time more efficiently. I give you excellent incentive to get your work done quicker."

"Luna!"

"You know that you love me," said the younger witch.

"I do, Luna," said Hermione, not wanting to actually repeat the sentence yet. She knew that she loved Luna, she just wasn't sure whether she could vocalise it yet.

\\\/

Luna and Hermione continued meeting for the next couple of months, until the DA was found by Professor Umbridge. She and Luna managed to escape, only because they ducked into a nearby bathroom and cast a Disillusionment Charm on themselves. They still managed to locate each other and start to kiss.

Sometimes raw emotion overcomes everything else.

The next morning, Luna and Hermione passed each other on their way to classes. "I saw Marietta last night before they took her to the Hospital Wing," said Luna. "Very creative of you. Cho isn't quite as happy with you or Harry, but she's never liked me."

"Perhaps the Humdingers?"

Luna laughed, a sound that always brought joy to Hermione's ears.

"You have to watch out, though," said the Ravenclaw. "Umbridge certainly knows the perpetrators of that group now. She'll have it even more in for you than usual."

"I've thought of that, and I accept that," said Hermione. "There are some things worth getting expelled over."

"What about me?"

"I'd get expelled and then smuggle you out," said Hermione. "We'd have to lay low for a couple of years, as it would technically be kidnapping and a whole lot of other charges, but we'd get out. Together."

"Exactly what I wanted to hear," said Luna. "Except, try not to get expelled. Kidnapping charges are so hard to beat."

\\\/

It was after another studying session when Harry confronted Hermione again.

"Why are you spending so much time with Looney Lovegood?" he asked angrily.

"She's a good friend," said Hermione. "And like I said at the beginning of the year, she's brilliant."

"She's a year younger than us," said Harry.

"But her knowledge clearly exceeds yours, Mr Potter," said Hermione, getting annoyed. "If that damn map wasn't one of the only things you had from your father, I'd burn it. Or worse, turn it in to the current authorities. That would end your power trip over me real quick, wouldn't it?"

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I would dare," said Hermione. "Worse, I'd tell Mrs Weasley, too. In a nice letter. Something like, 'Dear Mrs Weasley, Harry has an enchanted map of Hogwarts that insults you and has been using it to monitor the movements of Ginny and I. The Headmistress has no clue that Harry has been using it for illegal purposes. Hope you are well, Hermione.' So, yes, I would. And her name is LUNA, not Looney."

"Merlin, is this what we usually sound like?" asked Ron. Neville and Ginny both nodded. They were pretty sure that they heard Hermione call Harry an asshole.

"I don't think that they will be friends much longer," said Neville.

"I never noticed what type of guy Harry is," said Ginny. "That's unfortunate. I was hoping to date him in a year or two. If I had ten Galleons, I would put them on Harry saying something incredibly stupid any minute now."

"He might change," said Ron, trying to reassure his sister.

She shook her head.

"It's not him I have eyes for any longer," she said. She may have made a subtle nod to Neville, who truly had been looking rather good this year. Add to that the amount of power he was showing, due to his increased confidence, and that really caused a girl to go nuts. It didn't hurt Ginny's case that he was one of the nicer Gryffindors.

Unfortunately for Ginny, Harry did not immediately say anything stupid, but instead stomped off to the Dormitory.

"He's bang out of line, mate," said Ron. Nearly everyone in the Common Room nodded their heads in agreement. Even the Twins had stopped their nefarious planning to listen to the shouting match. He lowered his voice, as Hermione sat down on the couch next to him in tears. "You like Luna, don't you."

"She's a wonderful girl," said Hermione. "That's not a problem is it?"

"Hell, no," said Ron. "Personally, I go both ways. I've had a crush on you and Justin for the longest time. I just recognised that we'd never work out."

"I can't believe my former best friend would treat me this way!" exclaimed Hermione. "I can't even write a letter to...to...to Snuffles, as all of the mail is being monitored."

"Remember that package **he** gave Harry this Christmas?" asked Ron. "It looked to be a communications mirror. I might be able to get it for you, if you want."

"Thanks," said Hermione as Ron walked off. The Twins came over. "Did we hear you say that the Map is a family heirloom?" they asked in an excited, but quiet voice.

"His father is Prongs," admitted Hermione. "You were living with Padfoot and Moony over the summer at You-Know-Where, and had Moony as a professor two years ago."

"We were living with two Marauders?!" exclaimed the Twins in their chorused voices. "You mean, the owner of the place we were in is Padfoot and Professor Lupin is Moony?"

"And Wormtail is Scabbers," said Hermione. "Also known as the person who betrayed the Potters, Peter Pettigrew."

A minute later, Ron came back down the stairs from the dormitories. He was carrying the Marauders' Map and a package. Hermione took the items, and ran off, thanking Ron.

"How'd you do that?" asked the Twins.

"Stupid fool didn't have Constant Vigilance," said Ron. "I stunned him in the back."

\\\/

Hermione ran to the Room of Requirement where, curiously enough, Luna was waiting for her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I felt that I was needed here," replied the other witch.

"You realise what I'm about to do is illegal?" asked Hermione. "And that I will be contacting a known, but innocent criminal?"

"Are you calling Stubby Boardman?" asked Luna, jokingly. "I never believed that either of them would do that."

They activated the room, and it turned into a nice sitting room. "Cozy," commented the younger witch, sitting down on the sofa. Hermione sat down next to her, took the mirror out, and called "Sirius Black."

"Huh?" came a voice from the mirror. A second later, the picture activated. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

"Harry's changed, Siri," she responded. "He's been so mean and overbearing lately."

"Wait, start from the beginning, please?" asked Sirius. "And who's your lovely friend?"

"My very much underage friend is Luna Lovegood," said Hermione. "Her dad publishes _The Quibbler_."

"I thought I recognised the name," said Sirius. He turned his head towards Luna. "You look a lot like your mother. I knew her in school. Great in bed."

"Sirius, shut up about Luna's mum!" said Hermione. "And listen to my story!"

Hermione started from the beginning all the way up until the events of the night.

"He's never gone that crazy on me!" she exclaimed. "We never have shouting matches like that. Ron and me, yes, all the time, but Harry and I, never!"

"I don't suppose that you're asking me to do anything about this?" asked Sirius hopefully. "I could transform into Padfoot and take a dump in his bed. Or set up a convoluted series of traps that activate each other and then cause something embarrassing to happen to him."

"Sirius, you have to stay in the house," she said. "I was just wondering: is it possible that Harry is possessed by **HIM**?"

"Not likely," said Sirius. "But I'll bring it up the next time Dumbledore is here."

"Thanks, Sirius," said Hermione. "He's just been so different this year. By the way, the Twins know your true identity now."

"I liked those troublemakers of Molly's" responded Sirius. "They are truly heirs to the Marauders tradition. Oh, by the way, Luna, I love your father's articles. They've kept me going the last two years."

They closed the mirror, and went to their Common Rooms.

\\\/

Luna and Hermione didn't have a lot of time together for a while, since exams were coming up, and this was Hermione's OWL year.

Somehow, Ron managed to maintain a tenuous relationship with both Harry and Hermione, even after the two feuding Gryffindors had reduced themselves to last-name basis.

The next time they really got to meet was after Harry had a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries. Of course, she didn't hear it from Harry, she heard it from Ron. Harry was going off halfcocked, and had decided that Umbridge's Floo was the best way to contact Sirius.

Unfortunately, he was caught, and dragged out to the Forest by the Toad-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, after claiming that Dumbledore had a weapon in the Forest. After a while, he emerged from the Forest without Umbridge.

"What's the plan, Harry?" asked Ron, one of the few people Harry hadn't openly offended that year.

"I go to the Ministry and save Sirius," said Harry.

"I think you mean that we go," said Ron. Neville, Ginny, Luna and Hermione all volunteered to go.

"Thank you," said Harry. "You're all nuts, but thank you."

"I'm not doing this for you, Potter," said Hermione. "I'm doing this to save Sirius."

"Nor am I," said Luna. "I'm doing it for Hermione."

They took thestrals to the Ministry of Magic.

They quickly were ambushed by Death Eaters as soon as they retrieved the Prophecy from the shelves. Hermione, Luna, Ron, and Neville were separated from Harry and Ginny, and were fighting in another area. Luna got knocked unconscious, but Hermione quickly revived her. They chased the Death Eaters into another room. Neville was fighting like a maniac. Luna and Hermione were holding their own. It was then that Hermione noticed a Death Eater trying to sneak around to attack them from behind. She spun around, silenced the Death Eater, and the Death Eater had a momentary look of shock before he smiled insanely.

A purple curse hit Hermione, and she fell to the ground. Luna started to fire high-powered and very lethal curses at the man, who managed to evade all but two. He collapsed to the ground, presumably dead.

Luna rushed over to Hermione. Neville was kneeling next to her. "She's got a pulse," he said. "She's still alive."

Luna saw Harry running towards Bellatrix Lestrange. _This cannot be good,_ she thought.

"I killed Sirius Black!" screamed the insane witch. Harry hit her with a _Crucio_, but it barely harmed her. Apparently, he didn't have the right type of anger to cast something like that.

Then Voldemort came, and fought Dumbledore to a well-fought draw. Best of all, the Minister for Magic saw the magnificent fight so he could no longer deny the fact that Voldemort had returned.

Luna rushed back to Hermione, where she collapsed, crying over her girlfriend's body.

\\\/

When Luna woke up, she was at St Mungo's hospital. A nurse came in to check on her.

"Where's Hermione?" asked Luna, desperately.

"She'll be just fine," said the nurse. "There will be a bit of a scar, perhaps forever, but we managed to stop it before it went too far."

"Why am I here?"

"You were clinging to Miss Granger and were magically exhausted," said the nurse. "You must have cast some powerful spells down there."

"I did," admitted Luna. "Quite a number of them. What happened to Dolohov?"

"Dolohov?" confirmed the nurse. "He's dead. Official report says he got caught in the crossfire."

"Good," said Luna. She usually wasn't this vindictive, but usually her girlfriend wasn't in this much danger.

"Am I free to visit Miss Granger?" asked Luna.

"Just as soon as I finish up here," said the nurse.

\\\/

Despite what the nurse said, when Luna went to see Hermione, she still looked to be in bad shape. But everyone on the ward was very optimistic that she'd make a full recovery. She went over to Hermione's bedside.

"Pull through, Hermione," Luna said. "You're the most important thing in my life, except my father."

That's where the Weasleys found Luna a couple of hours later when they came to visit her. Molly forced Luna to eat, and Ginny was frequently hugging Luna.

"Get better, girls," said Mrs Weasley as the Weasleys left a while later.

It was a few days until Hermione woke up and was able to leave the hospital, and they were some of the longest days of Luna's life. Even longer than the days surrounding the funeral of her mum.

Then, all of a sudden, Luna heard the word she'd been waiting to hear for the last couple of days. It was her name. It wasn't her name that she wanted to hear, of course, but rather the person saying it.

"Luna" said Hermione from her bed.

"Hermione?" asked Luna excitedly. "You were nearly dead."

\\\/

The next day, the Healers decided that they were healthy enough to go back to Hogwarts. When they got there, Professor McGonagall pulled them aside.

"May I speak to you for a minute, girls?" asked the Deputy Headmistress.

"Of course," they replied, so McGonagall led them to her office. McGonagall set up many different types of wards and silencing charms before beginning to speak.

"After an examination of Mr Potter, it seems that your suspicions were quite correct, Miss Granger," said the professor sombrely. "Your friend had been influenced by You-Know-Who for the majority of the term, and is being treated at the very place you six sneaked off to, the Department of Mysteries. It is uncertain whether he will be able to make a full recovery or not."

Hermione started to cry on Luna's shoulder. Luna had been getting good at comforting Hermione this year. "If only I had told you or the Headmaster," said Hermione through her tears. Despite their recent falling-out, she still cared for Harry, as he had been her first friend.

"I don't want to tell you what the backup plan is," said McGonagall, even more sombrely. "That is, if You-Know-Who gains control of Mr Potter again."

Both girls gulped, as they had a fairly good idea what the 'backup plan' was, and it would not be beneficial to Harry's health.

"What happened to Umbridge?" asked Hermione curiously. "The last I saw, she was going into the Forest."

"She was recovered by the Headmaster, the True Headmaster," answered the professor. "She was badly wounded. According to the centaurs, she made her usual statements, and they were...unamused."

McGonagall dismissed them, and they went to one of the unused classrooms, where they talked about the Battle. After recounting the great battle of Voldemort v Dumbledore, Luna leaned in. "Can I tell you a secret?"

"Yes," admitted Hermione, unsure whether or not she actually wanted to know.

"I killed Antonin Dolohov," said the younger girl in a low voice.

"Won't you get in trouble for that?" asked Hermione. "And how do you feel, knowing that you took a life?"

"The Aurors have determined that Dolohov died in the crossfire," said Luna. "The Lovegoods weren't always as crazy as we make ourselves out to be. We're closely related to the Black family, you know. I have theoretical knowledge of many curses that I'm not sure that you could find anywhere other than our house, and the Black's House, wherever that is."

"And you?"

"It is not something that I will make a habit of," said Luna. "If you were to genuinely die, I'd likely go out in a hail of spellfire, while trying to take as many of them with me as I could. My soul remains whole."

"But I want you to be happy, not get yourself killed in a suicide run," exclaimed Hermione.

"Then don't get yourself killed on the battlefield," said Luna, cutting off all attempts at a rebuttal by kissing the older witch.

The two girls talked a while longer before Hermione went back to the Common Room.

"Hermione, you're alive!" chorused Ron and Ginny, sounding eerily like an opposite-gender version of the Twins. They rushed over to hug her.

"Easy, I just got out of the hospital," she said. They sat down on Hermione's favourite couch. "Did McGonagall tell you about Harry."

"Yes," said Ron. Ginny nodded as well.

"I'm not sure how much of his behaviour this year was the possession," said Ginny. "There's part of me that has a sinking suspicion that he was almost welcoming it."

"If only we would have realised sooner," lamented Ron.

"It seems my brother does a rather piss-poor job of that," said Ginny, though the slight grin revealed that she was joking, at least a little.

"I heard that Luna went nuts after you went down," said Ron. "I was attacked by the brain things, so I was already out of the fight at that point."

"She was very brave," said Hermione. "She...fought off Dolohov on her own."

\\\/

Harry didn't come back from the hospital for the rest of term. Honestly, Hermione was more than a little worried about her former friend, but she put it aside to go on with her life. When the school year was over, Hermione managed to convince her parents to allow Luna to come over for a week, and then allow her to visit Luna's house.

"How exactly do you feel about this girl?" asked Dan Granger, Hermione's father. He had been afraid that this day would come sooner or later. He just didn't think that 'that day' would also come with a girlfriend, instead of a boyfriend.

He couldn't be as threatening to a girl.

"She's my absolute best friend, and I love her," responded Hermione.

"You _love _her?"

"Yes, Dad, I do," said Hermione. "She is the sweetest, most brilliant, oddest, wonderful person I've ever known."

"What about that Harry bloke that you went on about for the past five years?"

"Harry changed this year, Dad," she replied. "He was possessed by an evil person, but seemed to be welcoming the possession. He used to be my best friend, but no longer."

That flustered Dan enough to agree, but 'the girls have to have separate bedrooms.'

"Of course, Dad, we're not ready for that yet," said Hermione. "In fact, we won't be ready for that until 13 February 1998."

"Luna's birthday?" asked Dan, knowing that was the most probable answer. Hermione nodded.

Luna came over a couple of days later, and got along quite well with the Grangers, especially Emma, who seemed to be an older version of Hermione.

Luna had not heard any updates on Harry's condition, not that she cared all that much. From her point of view, he was a selfish, self-centred prig who'd just made it easier for Hermione and her to fall in love with each other. She obviously did not voice this viewpoint in front of her girlfriend, as she knew that Hermione still hoped that Harry would recover fully.

Over the next couple of days, Hermione introduced Luna to all sorts of Muggle things, like London, theme parks, the Underground, clothing stores.

Hermione didn't like to go clothes shopping. She never had. She wished that there was a way to buy clothes on demand and not have to deal with the hassle of looking for her size. This time, however, she had someone else, her own age, with her. A someone who had never experienced the horrors of clothes shopping.

"Damn, it's too bad I'm still underage," complained Hermione. "I'd just buy a bag and cast Undetectable Extensions Charms and Featherweight Charms on it. That way, we wouldn't have to haul all this around."

Luna just looked on, thinking. _Should I tell her that I could easily get around the charm at my place?_

"If you were at my house," said Luna, "You would be able to. The Ministry can only detect Magic. They can't tell who's casting the magic. My house is a known Wizard Residence."

\\\/

One thing that Hermione noticed about her girlfriend was Luna's ability to rile up Dan Granger, using some of the same tactics that she used with Hermione—talk about her strange creatures and go off on ridiculous tangents. She'd even prepared new material concerning the Prime Minister.

Sometimes logic and illogic come together. Their names were Hermione and Luna.

\\\/

After a couple of weeks in the Muggle world, Hermione left her house and went to Luna's. There, she met Luna's father, a man who truly looked like an older, male, version of Luna. He seemed to be even more strange than his daughter.

"Mummy was always the sane one in the family," Luna said later that night. "Once she died, Daddy started to believe even more in all of the animals, the conspiracy theories, and everything he printed in the paper. It was all quite sad. I'm not sure whether he will ever be more sane again."

Hermione noticed that Luna had a mural of the two of them on her ceiling, liked by a chain that said 'Best Friends'. It was rather odd seeing her own face staring down at her.

"I wasn't sure how to do the animation charms, see," said Luna. "Otherwise, it would've been a fully moving portrait."

Hermione thought about Luna's mum, and how wonderful a woman she must have been.

Sometimes logic and illogic come together. Their names were Selene Pandora Lovegood and Xenophilius Lovegood.

\\\/

The two girls got to see the Weasleys a couple of days later. Molly was happy to see them, but was distressed as there had been no news about Harry.

The day before Luna and Hermione were set to go to Diagon Alley with the Weasleys, they got news. Not news of Harry, but news of another sort.

Voldemort had attacked Diagon Alley, but Dumbledore had fought Him and killed him. For the second time in his life, Dumbledore was the hero of the day. Unfortunately, there were many causalities on both sides; for the light, Remus Lupin, Severus Snape, Nymphadora Tonks, and a large number of civilians were killed; for the dark, Voldemort, and most of his Death Eaters, including all three Malfoys and all three Lestranges, had been killed.

There were a lot of their classmates now without parents. Hermione wished that Harry was here. He would be able to help with the economy, and making sure everyone had homes. He had enough money for that.

Arguably, Harry Potter had the most money in the Wizarding World, due to the fact that the Malfoys and Sirius had been killed, as Harry was Sirius' heir.

"You're thinking about him, aren't you," cut the voice of Luna Lovegood, jolting her out of her thoughts.

"He was my best friend, my brother," explained Hermione. "You heard McGonagall: this is literally a life and death situation."

"I just worry that you'll go back to him," said Luna.

"Don't you ever think that, Lu," said Hermione. "You are the most important person in my life. I would kill a Death Eater for you."

A few days after Voldemort's defeat, Hermione received two letters. One was from her parents, inviting her and Luna to join them in Paris. The other was from Gringotts for the Will Reading of Sirius Black. Curiously, Luna was invited to that one as well.

Hermione immediately accepted both offers.

"Paris will be fun," said Luna. "They have the second largest Magical Alley there."

"There's also the Eiffel Tower, and the museums, and all that stuff," said Hermione. "The Muggles call it the 'City of Love' as they find it romantic."

"Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you, 'Mione?" asked Luna.

\\\/

Sirius' will gave Hermione and Luna both exorbitant amounts of money, along with their pick of books from the Black Library.

It was after the Will reading that they got any information on Harry. Dumbledore escorted the girls back to the Rookery, home of the Lovegoods, where he made himself at home in their living room, after putting up secrecy charms that would put Mad-Eye to shame.

"Your friend Harry will be physically alright," said the Headmaster. "Unfortunately, we are unsure whether or not he will be able to be restored to his previous mental health. Remember that locket at Headquarters, Miss Granger?"

Hermione nodded, and then gasped. "It felt wrong," she said. "But we threw it away. How did he get it back?"

"Kreacher has been serving at least three masters for a good part of a year now," said Dumbledore. "First, his begrudging master Sirius. Then, his beloved Bellatrix Lestrange and her family. Finally, Harry, with the promise that he'd give Kreacher to the Blacks. Around October or November, Harry ordered Kreacher to retrieve the locket."

"But why?"

"He was the only one to put it on," said Dumbledore. "It connected with him. Have you ever read _The Lord of the Rings, _Miss Granger? It's like the One Ring. The Compulsion was there. Harry was already fragile, as we discovered when we examined him, as there was evidence of a connection with Voldemort."

Hermione had a good understanding of this.

"The locket had a curse on it that caused it to allow Voldemort to possess the wearer," said Dumbledore. "Unfortunately, it was a much more powerful curse than what was put on Miss Weasley, though you shouldn't say that to her. I'm sorry that I have to bring you such ambiguous news."

"How did you defeat Voldemort?" asked Luna. "The paper said that there was a fantastic duel."

"Oh, there was," said Dumbledore. "But, for the second time in my life, I defeated a Dark Lord by accident."

"Really?"

"I accidentally knocked Grindelwald off a cliff after our Great Duel," said Dumbledore. "Reinforcements didn't come for a couple of days, and they decided that they would embellish the story, and give me credit for defeating Grindelwald."

"And this time?" asked Hermione. She was unsure whether or not she actually wanted to know the answer.

"Remember the incident with the buffalo that Professor Flitwick is so fond of using?" asked Dumbledore, and both girls nodded, starting to giggle a bit, as they knew where this was going. "We had the magnificent battle, and then I was going to banish some debris at him, and he ended up under a buffalo. I quickly vanished the buffalo, but it managed to kill Voldemort."

"Will Harry be back for next year?" asked Hermione.

"I certainly hope so," replied Dumbledore.

\\\/

It was sad when Luna and Hermione had to go their separate ways after being within feet of each other nearly the entire summer. Luna was starting her OWL year, and Hermione was starting her sixth year. They wouldn't be able to have classes together at all.

True to Dumbledore's hope, Harry did appear, looking a little worse for wear. He joined his classmates at the Gryffindor table. He seemed to forget nearly everything that had happened the previous year, and was a bit fuzzy on the previous years, as well.

After the meal, Dumbledore gave his announcements. "We are welcoming an old friend back to the castle: please welcome Professor Slughorn, who will be taking over potions and as Head of Slytherin House."

The roar of approval was overwhelming. Everyone had hated Snape.

"Due to the fact that our previous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was severely injured at the end of the year, she has decided not to join us," said Dumbledore to just as much applause. "Taking her place will be Professor Kingsley Shacklebolt on loan from the Aurors."

There was a polite applause for the Afro-Caribbean Auror. Hermione figured that his classes would be good—he'd assigned decent textbooks.

"Last year, Harry Potter made the unfortunate discovery of a cursed object from Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore to the double gasps of the students. "This object...possessed him, and he has very little recollection of what he did whilst under the object's thrall. I sincerely hope that you can forgive his actions of last year. Voldemort has ensnared wizards ten times Harry's power."

There were whispers around the Great Hall at this proclamation. He looked at his watch. "Well, I should think that I've bored you quite long enough. You have classes in the morning to prepare for, so pip pip off to bed. Prefects and Head Students, please lead the first-years to their dormitories."

Hermione stood up, her prefect badge on her uniform. "Gryffindor First-Years, follow me!" she called. She looked at some of the First-Years. Ron had been right the previous year—they did seem smaller. _It's probably all a relative size thing._

She waved to Luna, who was heading towards the doors. Luna waved back.

\\\/

Back in the Common Room, Harry apologised to everyone, multiple times.

"I'm really sorry for going all stalkerish last year, Hermione," said Harry. "And being rude, calling you names, especially 'that' name."

"You'll never be my best friend again, Potter," said Hermione. "But, we can work on being friends. But, in order for us to be friends, you need to accept my relationship with Luna."

"You're gay?" asked Harry.

"I might be," said Hermione. "I just know that I love Luna. If you can't accept that, we cannot be friends."

"I'm perfectly okay with that," he said. "What you do is your own business, as long as it doesn't harm me or someone I like."

He put out his hand. "I'm Harry Potter."

Hermione responded with, "I'm Hermione Granger," as they shook hands. Perhaps they would be friends again.

\\\/

That year was free of any distractions of tournaments or crazy dictatorial professors or threats from Voldemort, so Luna and Hermione spent a lot of time together. It was almost disconcerting for Hermione when her girlfriend, a year younger than her, was able to point out things in the texts that she hadn't noticed.

Or fix grammar that Hermione didn't even notice needed to be fixed.

And Hermione was able to quiz Luna on nearly everything she needed to know about the exams. Their relationship was quite strong, and Hermione intended on proposing the minute that Luna turned seventeen. It might not be completely legal, but it would be a nice thing for them.

Harry, on the other hand, was doing poorly in his sixth year classes, despite the marks he received on the OWLs exams. Dumbledore had transferred him to mostly fifth year classes, so that his education would be more well-rounded and complete. Harry didn't dissent, as he knew that he was having a hard time. He would be retaking the OWLs at the end of the year, and his educational future would be decided after that.

Privately, Harry told Hermione that he wasn't fancying being an Auror any longer—Aurors have to deal with cursed objects all of the time, and he realised that he seemed to have a weakness for them.

"Maybe I'll do Quidditch for a couple of years, and reevaluate from there," he told her. He also told her that he was very supportive of her and Luna's relationship, despite the Dursleys saying that same-sex marriages were evil. "If they said something was bad, it either was good or really, really, bad."

Hermione was proud that Harry was thinking about his future, and Luna was glad that she didn't have to worry about him poaching her girlfriend. Hermione had said it would never happen, but due to the events of the previous year, Luna was wary of Mr Potter. The sooner that she didn't have to deal with him any longer, the better.

The next year, Hermione was made Head Girl, and proceeded to abuse the associated privileges quite often. The Head Girl had her own dormitory office, so Luna was often there. This was technically against the rules, but all of the professors turned a blind eye. Some of her Ravenclaw classmates complained that she spent as much time in Gryffindor Tower as she did in Ravenclaw Tower. They conveniently forgot that they'd been bullying her and trying to get her to leave for the past five years.

Hermione and Luna had advanced their relationship to sleeping in the same bed, just sleeping. Professor Flitwick knew of this behaviour, but did not complain, seeing as his Ravenclaws' abuse of Luna had been pointed out to him.

\\\/

Luna's birthday was on a Friday that year, so Hermione wanted to make it a weekend long combined Luna's birthday and Valentine's Day celebration.

During the Christmas holidays, Hermione had gone to see Xenophilius Lovegood and ask for permission to ask Luna to marry her. Mr Lovegood was very pleased. He always wanted his little Moonbeam to be happy, and now she was about to be 17. Hermione had also sneaked away to get Luna a ring—for that she used some of the money that Sirius had given her.

Most of the money she'd invested in supposedly safe investments, but she had kept enough to pay for her daily needs, and a ring.

Early in the day of Luna's birthday, Hermione told her that her biggest present would come after dinner. In the meantime, Hermione gave Luna an enchanted razor for her legs and a watch, along with books about the Muggle world (mostly written by Muggle-borns, Muggle family members, or Squibs). Luna was excited for the gifts she already received that she couldn't imagine how Hermione could top this.

After dinner, Hermione encouraged Luna to just go to the Gryffindor Common Room. She had negotiated with Dobby so that a chocolate cake (Luna's favourite flavour) would be delivered to the room. Everyone in Gryffindor plus Luna could have a party.

As always, Dobby had gone a bit overboard. He'd provided a couple of cakes, drinks, and various other candy items, a large table with a nice tablecloth, and large stacks of plates and cups. Hermione made sure that everyone got back to the Common Room first, so that she could surprise Luna.

"SURPRISE!" screamed everybody as Luna walked in. She seemed to be happy that everyone liked her so much. In the middle of the party, Hermione pulled Luna off to the side a little bit, got down on one knee, and took a box out of her bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

"Luna Selene Lovegood, you are most important person in my life, and I would like to go Crumpled-Horn Snorkack hunting with you," Hermione said. "Luna Lovegood, will you make me the happiest woman on this planet by agreeing to marry me?"

"Oh, Hermione, you can't be the happiest woman on the planet, because that's me!" said the stranger witch. "But of course, I will allow you on a Hunt."

She laughed at the look on Hermione's face. "Of course I will marry you." Hermione put the ring on Luna's finger, and the room started to applaud. There were squeals and other various noises when the girls started to kiss.

That night, after the party was over, Luna and Hermione were in the Head Dormitory. "I really am going to miss this, you know," she said.

"What?"

"The room, being able to be with you all the time," replied Luna.

"Don't tell anyone, but Professor McGonagall has offered me an apprenticeship," said Hermione. "She and I would split the classes for a few years, and we would work together on an Advanced Transfiguration project. That means, you only have to leave if you want to."

"I'd like that," said Luna. "Would it be one of those deals where you have to stay here a certain amount of time?"

"No," said Hermione. "Either of us can end it when we want. It even comes with a small stipend, and quarters. Quarters that are not connected to the host teacher's quarters."

"Take it," said Luna. "This is one of the best things to happen to you."

"I know,"

\\\/

A couple of months later, Hermione left the school for the last time as a student, and with some of the highest marks known to Wizardkind. Privately, Dumbledore had told her that her grades were likely to be just a few points behind his and that was saying something.

Harry had been on track, but he was still considered a sixth-year.

Hermione met her parents at the train station. She had told them about her engagement, and her actions getting off the train confirmed it, as Hermione was holding her fiancée's hand. They kissed before going over to meet Hermione's parents.

"Mum, Dad, this is my fiancée, Luna Lovegood," introduced Hermione, even though they'd met last summer and a couple of summers ago.

"Congratulations," said Emma Granger. "You have to tell us all about it."

"And don't forget to tell them your other news, as well," mentioned Luna.

"What other news?" asked Dan Granger, in the tone that clearly stated that he would not be happy if certain words were the next ones out of her mouth.

"Professor McGonagall wants to take me on as an apprentice," said Hermione. "It is a great honour, and is a path to becoming a teacher at the school."

Both of the Granger parents hugged their daughter, telling her how proud they were of her.

That night, Luna and her father came over for dinner. "So, what is the magical world's view on...this?"

"On gay people?" asked Xeno. "There are spells available for female gay people to have children, and we believe that they are perfectly able to have a family and get married. It's really only a subset of the Muggle-borns that have a problem with that."

"Spells to have children?" asked Dan, intrigued.

"For women, there is a spell that mixes the magical essence of the two parents," said Xeno knowingly.

"Think mixing DNA, dad," said Hermione.

"What happens when two men fall in love?" followed up Dan. "I know that Hermione's friend, Ron, likes a guy."

"There is a spell for men," said Xeno. "But it requires a host. The two men choose a carrier, generally a poor, uneducated girl, and use the spell to implant an embryo in the female. It pays rather a lot, but each girl can only go through the procedure once. All other pregnancies have to be done the normal way."

"So there's no such thing as male pregnancy?"

"Merlin's beard, no!" laughed Xeno. "Only in the tabloids that print material even more outrageous than my paper."

"Is there a limit with two girls?" asked Dan, wanting to know how many possible grandchildren he could have.

"Only a self-imposed one," said Xeno.

Hermione noticed that her future father-in-law was speaking more coherently than usual, making fewer references to the things his paper wrote, and generally a charming man. It seems some time out of the Rookery was doing him some good.

\\\/ Epilogue: 19 years later

Luna and Hermione Lovegood-Granger had been married eighteen years. Their marriage had produced three children, the last of which was now entering Hogwarts.

They were on the platform, saying goodbye to their children, when Luna saw Harry, along with his wife (whom Luna didn't recognise), and their three children. She whispered to Rose, their youngest, "You beat them on every test, okay?"

"Don't go spoiling them against the Potters," said Hermione. "Julia is a perfectly nice woman, and her children are nice as well."

"What if I'm in Slytherin or worse, Ravenclaw?" asked Rose timidly.

"Rose, you are smart enough for Ravenclaw," said Hermione. "If you keep your mind in this world, you won't face any problems. In any case, whichever House you get in to will receive a wonderful young woman. You can ask it for Gryffindor if you want. It doesn't mean that it will acquiesce to your request, but you can try."

"Okay, mummy," said Rose.

"Go find your brothers," said Luna. "Have a good time, learn a lot, and go Gryffindor!"

Rose laughed as she went to find her brothers Daniel and Sirius.

Daniel was a Gryffindor fifth year, and a prefect. He was good on a broom, but also loved to learn.

Sirius was a Hufflepuff third year. He was the star chaser for the Hufflepuff team the previous years. Sirius, however, was quite similar to the person he was named after, as he loved to create trouble.

Rose, of course, was entering into her first year at the school. Both of her mothers had a suspicion that Gryffindor was in her future. She was quiet and kind, and had read most of the library at least once. However, there was that spark of Gryffindor-ness in her that they hoped the Hat could find.

"I can't believe that they're all at Hogwarts now," said Hermione.

"I know," said Luna. "Time flies so quickly."

Hermione Granger had many friends, in many walks of life, from Herbologists to Quidditch Players to Aurors, but none of them was as strange and illogical as her wife, Luna. That said, none of her friends were as sweet as the crazy girl she married.

A/N:

Luna is 513 days (1 year, 4 months and 25 days) younger than Hermione: 19 September 1979 and 13 February 1981

In a previous draft, the Common Room blowup was a lot bigger than it turned out to be, and Luna actually used the Killing Curse to defeat Dolohov and then mused how Harry wasn't able to get a revenge shot in (at Bellatrix)

Hermione turns 17 on 19 September 1996 (at the beginning of sixth year), Luna turns 17 on 13 February 1998 (Hermione's seventh year, Luna's sixth year)

Omake or Second Epilogue (Harry's life and times)

Harry Potter, of Godric's Hollow, was very happy with his life. The possession that he'd endured during his original fifth year had really changed his outlook on life. Harry continued to play Quidditch after he left the school in 1998, playing most of his career at Ballycastle. He made the national squad three times before he retired.

He eventually married a fan, Julia Ivanova, and had three children: James, Sirius, and Lily. Ironically, their children were around the same ages as the Lovegood-Granger children, and were somewhat good friends. Not best friends, but decent friends. The first two were both in Gryffindor, and Lily was about to be Sorted.

Julia and Harry lived a good life. As they were leaving King's Cross after dropping their children off, Harry glimpsed his scar in the mirror. It had not pained him in twenty years. All was well.


	2. Bad (someone who's not Harry)

Logic and Illogic

by: coolhacker1025

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters involved. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, et. al Warnings: possibly Ron!bashing, femmeslash, eventual Hermione/Luna

Not in the same continuity as Chapter 1.

\\\/

Hermione Granger had unusual friends. Her first friend at school was Harry Potter, a boy who'd somehow managed to defeat Voldemort as a baby, and then multiple times as a student. While he didn't have the best work ethic, he clearly was better than her at certain subjects, like when they had Defence Against the Dark Arts, as taught by a competent professor.

Her second friend, Ron Weasley, was from a large family. She noticed that this seemed to give him a very large inferiority complex. He was very lazy, and spent most of his time playing chess or talking about Quidditch (especially his favourite team, the Chudley Cannons). This year had gone even further: Ron had gained a spot on the Gryffindor Quidditch Team, and was not spending much time on homework or revising at all. It was only due to her hard work forcing him to revise for exams that allowed him to pass with a score better than "P".

He also had a bit of a complex about the fact that Harry was so rich, and that his eldest brothers were so successful.

Hermione's third friend was an enigma. She was an enigma by the name Luna Lovegood. She was a Ravenclaw fourth year, and one of the brightest students in the school. Hermione hadn't really noticed this until she started to encounter the girl more often, due to the DA and the fact that Luna's father owned a newspaper that was considered in opposition to the official Ministry story.

What caused Hermione to go crazy was the fact that Luna claimed to believe in so many creatures that Hermione was sure did not exist. Part of Luna's being was that she would believe something with very little proof, and then look for clues that it was true/did exist/whatever applied to the situation. This was completely in opposition to Hermione's need for facts.

Somehow, due to the increased contact with the girl, she'd become friends with her.

\\\/ Present

"Umbridge let you out early tonight, mate?" asked Ron as his best friend Harry walked into the Common Room.

"Something to do with the Twins, I believe," said Harry. "Where's Hermione?"

"Dunno," said his friend. "She's been sneaking out almost every time you have detention with She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named or a 'remedial potions' class with Snape. I thought she was keeping an eye on you."

"I don't think she is," said Harry. He really hoped that his best female friend wasn't doing something completely stupid, like collaborating with the Twins to overthrow the Toad-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

"Funny thing is, she always has her homework done, just like usual," said Ron. "Come to think of it, she usually arrives before you do most nights."

"This is Hermione we're talking about," said Harry. "She's probably just gone to the library."

He noticed her walking into the Common Room.

"You're back early," said Hermione. "Umbridge distracted by something?"

"The Twins, I think," said Harry. "Where were you?"

"The library," said Hermione, slightly flustered.

Even Harry could tell that she wasn't being completely truthful. Somehow, Ron didn't quite realise that fact.

\\\/ Past

Hermione had seen Luna around the school many times over the years, but they didn't really meet until Hermione's fourth year. Hermione was in the library when the strange girl came over to her and started to correct her runes translation.

"How do you know so much about runes?" Hermione had asked the girl.

"Oh, Daddy does an article about them every so often," said the blond-haired girl in that airy voice of hers.

"I don't want to be rude," started Hermione. "But who exactly are you? I don't think that you are a fourth-year, as I've never seen you in class."

"I'm Luna Lovegood," said the girl. "Ravenclaw third year."

"Why exactly did you come over to see me?"

"The Nargles told me to," said the strange girl.

"The what?" asked Hermione.

"The Nargles," repeated Luna. "They are quite mysterious and mischievous creatures. They are known to infect Mistletoe."

"But why did you come here?"

"You needed it," said Luna. "Perhaps you need someone to talk to. Other than Harry Potter and Ronald Weasley."

_Luna does have a point,_ thought Hermione.

\\\/

The second time that Hermione met Luna was before the Second Task when Hermione was helping Harry to research ways to complete the task.

"You don't want that section," Luna told her. "Magical plants will help Harry Potter with his goal. I don't know which, but asking someone might help."

"Which what?" asked Hermione.

"You are a thoroughly confusing individual, Hermione Granger," said Luna. "I meant which plant. Although I suppose that I could have also meant which goal. The Wrackspurts interfered with my line of thought."

"I could say that you are also a thoroughly confusing individual, Luna," said Hermione. "I've never heard of these Nargles or Wrackspurts before."

\\\/ Present

"If you let me look at your map, I can see what or who she is doing," suggested Ron one night after they went to their dormitory.

"Hermione can take care of herself, Ron," said Harry. "I believe in her."

"Fat load of good that'll do if she ends up dead," said Ron.

\\\/ Past

Aside from a couple of meetings in the hall, Hermione didn't see Luna again until the next year. Hermione had become a prefect, and was on a carriage with Harry, Ron, Neville, and Ginny.

"Who's that?" asked Harry.

"Oh, her?" laughed Ginny. "That's Looney—I mean, Luna Lovegood. She's the same year as me, except Ravenclaw."

Hermione noticed the way that Luna held her copy of the _Quibbler _upside down, wearing those ridiculous glasses that were supposed to see Nargles or whatever.

She noticed the way that Luna put her wand behind her ear.

"She's actually quite brilliant," said Hermione. "She knows almost as much as I do."

Hermione blushed at her admission, but nobody, not even Luna, noticed.

\\\/

Hermione didn't know how she and Luna became good friends, but it happened that year. They were together more often due to DA meetings, and had gradually become friends.

It was one of Hermione's stranger friendships, but it was a friendship.

Hermione found herself meeting Luna in the library much more often, as both boys were at Quidditch practise, and therefore didn't need her supervision. They would talk about all sorts of things, even things that weren't related to schoolwork. It was hard sometimes for Hermione to remember that Luna was a year (and some) younger than she was.

There was just something about the illogic.

\\\/ Present

Harry acquiesced, and let Ron use the Marauders' Map. "She's in the library now, with Luna Lovegood," Ron chuckled. "What the hell is she doing there with Looney Lovegood?"

\\\/

Luna was much more advanced than her age would indicate. She knew potions that Hermione was just learning about (and could correct Hermione's papers if need be), her Transfiguration skills were amazing, her charmswork was awesome.

Yet she kept talking about all of her creatures, and how the Minister was murdering Goblins, baking them into pies. And Hermione kept listening.

_Is there an ounce of truth in Luna's statements?_ Hermione thought to herself. Luna's illogic was outstanding.

\\\/

"Does this map show the whole of Hogwarts?" asked Ron.

"I think so," responded Harry. "Why?"

"She's just disappeared off the map," said Ron. "What the hell is she thinking—leaving Hogwarts at this time of night?"

"There is the possibility that there are places in Hogwarts not on the map," said Harry, noticing that his friend's worry about their friend was turning into an obsession. "Just lay off her, okay?"

"But she's supposed to be mine!"

"Women aren't possessions to be won, Ron," replied Harry. "That goes double for Hermione."

\\\/

Somehow, friendship turned to love. The combination of logic and illogic was astounding, but it worked.

Their first kiss was a mistake. Rather, their first kiss on the lips was a mistake.

It was after a DA meeting, and Hermione and Luna were the only ones left in the Room. Even Harry had already left.

She only meant to kiss Luna's cheek, but Luna moved at just the right time. They kissed on the lips. Then, by some unspoken agreement, they continued to kiss for another minute.

Just because something is a mistake doesn't mean that it can't be good.

Hermione used her prefect status to escort Luna back to the Ravenclaw Common Room, where Hermione met the bronze door-knocker in the shape of an eagle.

"Which came first, the phoenix or the flame?" it asked.

"No password, just a riddle?" asked Hermione of Luna, who nodded before answering the riddle.

"A circle has no beginning," answered the younger witch, who turned to Hermione and kissed her again before going through the now-open door to the Common Room.

Hermione smiled as she went back to Gryffindor Tower. She almost wish she hadn't gone back to the Tower.

"Where have you been?" asked Ron. "You could have been attacked or caught!?"

"I was using my prefect status to escort a friend home," she replied. "Not that it's any of your business."

"_He_'s back, Hermione," said Ron angrily. "_He _won't hesitate to curse you, maim you, rape you, just to get at Harry!"

"Come off it, Ronald," said Hermione, slapping Ron on the face. "I am more than capable of defending myself. If I choose to have company, then so be it. Also, I am a Big Girl. I don't need anyone telling me what to do."

She stormed off to the Girl's Dormitory.

Ron felt his face where she hit him. "What the hell was that for?"

"She doesn't need you to keep an annoyingly close eye on her, Ron," said Ginny. "If you ever try to do that to me, I'm cursing your arse off like Gwendolyn Morgan did back in 1953!"

Ron growled in response, but stalked up to the dormitory. It was obvious that he was not going to receive any support.

Perhaps it was time to change his priorities.

\\\/

"What happened, Hermione?" asked Luna the next time they met. It was a couple of days later, in the library. Luna could tell that something was up.

"Ron's being an ass," said Hermione. "Just as usual, he's being an overbearing, overprotective, stalking ass."

"What's he doing?"

"He wants me to be near him at all times," said Hermione. "He's using a family heirloom of Harry's to track my location."

"An heirloom?" asked Luna.

"It's a map of Hogwarts, created by his father," said Hermione. "It shows everyone in the school and where they are. It's completely up to date. I've never expressed an interest in him."

"Ronald is infested with Wrackspurts, Hermione," said her partner. "He wants more than the friendly relationship you have. In his mind, you're abandoning him after all these years of friendship."

"I'm not abandoning him!" exclaimed Hermione, albeit quietly, as they were in the library. "I just lo...I'm just more fond of you at this point."

Luna held her hand up in a placating gesture. "I know that you aren't abandoning him," she said. "You're just using your time more efficiently. I give you excellent incentive to get your work done quicker."

"Luna!"

"You know that you love me," said the younger witch.

"I do, Luna," said Hermione, not wanting to actually repeat the sentence yet. She knew that she loved Luna, she just wasn't sure whether she could vocalise it yet.

The Twins came over. "Did we hear you say that the Map is a family heirloom of Harry's?" they asked in an excited, but quiet voice.

"Harry's father and his friends created the Map at Hogwarts," said Hermione. "James was Prongs. You actually were living with two this past summer, and had one as a teacher a few years ago."

The Lumos charm lit over their heads. "Professor Lupin?"

"Moony," replied Hermione. "The owner of the...place we were in is Padfoot."

"We were living with two Marauders?!" exclaimed the Twins in their chorused voices. "What about the other one?"

"And Wormtail is Scabbers," said Hermione. "Also known as the person who betrayed the Potters, Peter Pettigrew."

The Twins fanboyed for a minute before returning to their regularly scheduled mayhem.

\\\/

Luna and Hermione continued meeting for the next couple of months, until the DA was found by Professor Umbridge. She and Luna managed to escape, only because they ducked into a nearby bathroom and cast a Disillusionment Charm on themselves, despite its relative difficulty. They still managed to locate each other and start to kiss.

Sometimes raw emotion overcomes everything else.

The next morning, Luna and Hermione passed each other on their way to classes. "I saw Marietta last night before they took her to the Hospital Wing," said Luna. "Very creative of you. Cho isn't quite as happy with you or Harry, but she's never liked me."

"Perhaps the Humdingers?"

Luna laughed, a sound that always brought joy to Hermione's ears.

"You have to watch out, though," said the Ravenclaw. "Umbridge certainly knows the perpetrators of that group now. She'll have it even more in for you than usual."

"I've thought of that, and I accept that," said Hermione. "There are some things worth getting expelled over."

"What about me?"

"I'd get expelled and then smuggle you out," said Hermione. "We'd have to lay low for a couple of years, as it would technically be kidnapping and a whole lot of other charges, but we'd get out. Together."

"Exactly what I wanted to hear," said Luna. "Except, try not to get expelled. Kidnapping charges are so hard to beat."

\\\/

It was after another studying session when Ron confronted Hermione again.

"Why are you spending so much time with Looney Lovegood?" he asked angrily.

"She's a good friend," said Hermione. "And like I said at the beginning of the year, she's brilliant."

"She's a year younger than us," pointed out Ron, angrily.

"But her knowledge clearly exceeds yours, Weasley," said Hermione, getting annoyed, and using his last name for the first time in years. "If I could, I would confiscate the map, or give it to people you can't steal it back from. I have half a mind to show Harry some nasty runes that he can put on his trunk, so that nobody can steal from it again. If you act this way to me again, I'd write your mother."

"You wouldn't dare!"

"I would dare," said Hermione. "Something like, 'Dear Mrs Weasley, Ronald has been using an enchanted map of Hogwarts to monitor the movements of Ginny and I. He is threatening to take it to the Headmistress. Hope you are well, Hermione.' So, yes, I would. And her name is LUNA, not Looney."

The shouting match was even louder than usual. At one point, the Gryffindors were quite sure that Hermione called Ron an asshole.

"Shut up!" called Ron before stomping off to the dormitory.

"I don't think that they will be friends much longer," said Neville.

"I don't think Ron and I will be friends much longer, either," said Hermione after Ron had left auditory range.

"He might change," said Harry, trying to reassure her.

She shook her head.

"It's not him I have eyes for any longer," she said. "I thought that he could grow up."

She burst into tears and sat down on the couch. Harry came over and placed his arm around her. "You're dating Luna, aren't you?"

"Is that a problem?" asked Hermione. "She's a great girl. My best female friend, no offence Ginny."

Ginny waved it off. Hermione did notice that Ginny was giving loving looks to Neville, but that the boy hadn't noticed it yet.

Ginny thought that Neville looked rather good this year. Add to that the amount of power he was showing, due to his increased confidence, and that really caused a girl to go nuts. It didn't hurt Ginny's case that he was one of the nicer Gryffindors.

"Hell, no," said Harry. "Personally, I go both ways. I've had a crush on you, Luna, and a couple of guys for the longest time."

He paused for a minute, thinking about something.

"Sirius gave me something with which I could contact him," said Harry. "Want to borrow it and the Map?"

"If I weren't in love with Luna, I could kiss you," said Hermione. Harry ran back to the dormitories. A minute later, he came back down with the package and the Map.

"See: it says '_This is a two-way mirror, I've got the other one of the pair. If you need to speak to me, just say my name into it; you'll appear in my mirror and I'll be able to talk in yours. James and I used to use them when we were in separate detentions'_."

"Thanks, Harry," said Hermione, before rushing off.

\\\/

Hermione ran to the Room of Requirement where, curiously enough, Luna was waiting for her.

"What are you doing here?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I felt that I was needed here," replied the other witch.

"You realise what I'm about to do is illegal?" asked Hermione. "And that I will be contacting a known, but innocent criminal?"

"Are you calling Stubby Boardman?" asked Luna, jokingly. "I never believed that either of them would do that."

They activated the room, and it turned into a nice sitting room. "Cozy," commented the younger witch, sitting down on the sofa. Hermione sat down next to her, took the mirror out, and called "Sirius Black."

"Huh?" came a voice from the mirror. A second later, the picture activated. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

"Can I rant to you about Ron Weasley?" asked Hermione.

"Of course, start from the beginning, please?" asked Sirius. "And who's your lovely friend?"

"My very much underage friend is Luna Lovegood," said Hermione. "Her dad publishes _The Quibbler_."

"I thought I recognised the name," said Sirius. He turned his head towards Luna. "You look a lot like your mother. I knew her in school. Great in bed."

"Sirius, shut up about Luna's mum!" said Hermione. "And listen to my story!"

Hermione started from the beginning all the way up until the events of the night.

"Ron and I shout every so often," said Hermione. "But it's never been this bad. I think that I even heard him use the «M» word as he was walking away."

Luna was hugging Hermione at this point.

"I don't suppose that you're asking me to do anything about this?" asked Sirius hopefully. "I could transform into Padfoot and take a dump in his bed. Or set up a convoluted series of traps that activate each other and then cause something embarrassing to happen to him."

"Sirius, you have to stay in the house," she said. "Besides, Ron already knows about your other form."

"Sometimes people grow apart," said Sirius. "Look what Wormtail did."

"Thanks, Sirius," said Hermione. "He's just been so different this year. By the way, the Twins know your true identity now."

"I liked those troublemakers of Molly's" responded Sirius. "They are truly heirs to the Marauders tradition. Oh, by the way, Luna, I love your father's articles. They've kept me going the last two years."

They closed the mirror, and went to their Common Rooms.

\\\/

Luna and Hermione didn't have a lot of time together for a while, since exams were coming up, and this was Hermione's OWL year.

Ron's relationship with Hermione and Harry soured over the next couple of months, and he mysteriously was absent for part of the Easter holiday. At this point, Ron was acting more like Malfoy, and none of the Gryffindor Fifth-Years were talking to him.

The next time they really got to meet was after Harry had a vision of Sirius being tortured in the Department of Mysteries.

"Try and contact Sirius," said Hermione. Harry got the mirror out, and called Sirius, but he didn't answer. It was at that point that they were stunned in the back.

When they came to, they were in Umbridge's office, and she was questioning them.

"You were trying to contact Dumbledore or Sirius Black!" said Umbridge. "I have an informant who told me that you were trying to contact known criminals. _Crucio!_"

Harry bit back the scream from the pain. Honestly, she was not as good at Voldemort at this. Eventually, Hermione and Harry got her to believe that there was a weapon in the forest, so Umbridge forced them to lead her there.

It was there that they were ambushed by centaurs and Hagrid's 5-metre half-brother Grawp. Harry and Hermione managed to escape, leaving Umbridge to the mercy of the feuding races in the forest.

As they emerged from the forest, Ron, Ginny, Neville, and Luna came running after them.

"What's the plan, Harry?" asked Ginny.

"I go to the Ministry and save Sirius," said Harry.

"I think you mean that we go," said Ron. Neville, Ginny, Luna and Hermione all volunteered to go.

"Thank you," said Harry. "You're all nuts, but thank you."

They took thestrals to the Ministry of Magic, which was an odd experience for Hermione seeing as she couldn't actually see the damned things.

They got to the Department of Mysteries and got to the Prophesy Room, where Harry's vision showed Sirius to be. When they got there, it was deserted.

"There's a prophesy with your name on it," shouted Neville, so Harry went over to pick it up. As soon as he did, Death Eaters came out of the shadows.

"Give us the prophesy, Potter," said Lucius Malfoy.

It was at this point Harry realised that they had just walked into an ambush. What shocked Harry even more was when Ron went over and knelt before Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I serve my Master, my Lady," he said, reverentially. Bellatrix ordered him to stand, and Ron drew back his sleeve, showing the Dark Mark. "I serve the True Master. I have chosen the winning side."

Hermione could tell that Harry was smarting from the betrayal. "Why?"

"Now I am not in your shadow any longer," replied the Death Eater. "I serve the Dark Lord, and He will win!"

"You were supposed to be at my side, fighting the Death Eaters," cried Harry. "You argued that Hermione would be killed if they got their hands on her. You have betrayed us all!"

"You will die, Potter," said Ron.

"You will try," said Harry. "Your master's tried it often enough, and I'm still here."

Ron shot a spell at Harry, who managed to avoid it, and then all hell broke loose.

\\\/

During the fighting, Hermione, Luna and Neville were separated from Harry and Ginny, who were fighting Lucius, Bellatrix, and Ron, and were fighting in another area of the Department of Mysteries.

Luna was knocked unconscious by a spell at one point, but Hermione was quickly able to revive her. Neville was fighting harder than they'd ever seen him fight before. They came across a room with a table in it, and were followed by a Death Eater. As soon as she saw the Death Eater, Luna cast the Silencing Charm on him.

The Death Eater looked shocked for a second, and then grinned insanely. It was almost as bad as Bellatrix's grins. He waved his wand, and a purple curse emerged, hitting Hermione. She fell to the ground.

"Not Hermione, no!" said Luna, as she started to cast high-powered curses that became increasingly violent and lethal. Bits of the room were falling all over, as the Death Eater dodged her spells. For a minute, he was lucky, but then moved half-a-second too late. Two extremely painful, extremely lethal curses hit him.

He collapsed to the ground, presumably dead.

Luna rushed over to Hermione. Neville was kneeling next to her. "She's got a pulse," he said. "She's still alive. How do you know those spells?"

"A lot of them were from the Lovegood Library," said Luna. "We're related to the Blacks, you know."

It was at this point she saw Harry running towards Bellatrix Lestrange, as Bella was taunting Harry. _This cannot be good, _thought Luna. She noticed that Harry tried to cast the Cruciatus Curse on Bellatrix but failed badly. Bellatrix taunted him even more about that.

Luna thought that she saw Ron still standing in the background. It was this distraction that allowed someone to cast a body-bind on her.

It was at this point that Dumbledore and Voldemort showed up. During the battle, Bellatrix and Ronald managed to escape, but only after the Minister of Magic saw them.

The Minister saw the battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort, which was truly a remarkable fight. It ended with Voldemort attempting to possess Harry, with Harry forcibly pushing the Dark Lord out. Luna was forced to watch helplessly as her friend fought off the attempted possession.

It was only after he was victorious that Luna could move again.

Luna rushed back to Hermione, where she collapsed, crying over her girlfriend's body. Thankfully, both Luna and Hermione were both breathing.

\\\/

When Luna woke up, she was at St Mungo's hospital. A nurse came in to check on her.

"Where's Hermione?" asked Luna, desperately.

"She'll be just fine," said the nurse. "There will be a bit of a scar, perhaps forever, but we managed to stop it before it went too far."

"Why am I here?"

"You were clinging to Miss Granger and were magically exhausted," said the nurse. "You must have cast some powerful spells down there."

"I did," admitted Luna. "Quite a number of them. What happened to Dolohov?"

"Dolohov?" confirmed the nurse. "He's dead. Official report says he got caught in the crossfire."

"Good," said Luna. She usually wasn't this vindictive, but usually her girlfriend wasn't in this much danger.

"Am I free to visit Miss Granger?" asked Luna.

"Just as soon as I finish up here," said the nurse.

\\\/

Despite what the nurse said, when Luna went to see Hermione, she still looked to be in bad shape. But everyone on the ward was very optimistic that she'd make a full recovery. She went over to Hermione's bedside.

"Pull through, Hermione," Luna said. "You're the most important thing in my life, except my father."

That's where the Weasleys found Luna a couple of hours later when they came to visit her. Molly forced Luna to eat, and Ginny was frequently hugging Luna. All of the Weasleys were in shock about Ron's betrayal.

"Get better, girls," said Mrs Weasley as the Weasleys left a while later.

It was a few days until Hermione woke up and was able to leave the hospital, and they were some of the longest days of Luna's life. Even longer than the days surrounding the funeral of her mum.

Then, all of a sudden, Luna heard the word she'd been waiting to hear for the last couple of days. It was her name. It wasn't her name that she wanted to hear, of course, but rather the person saying it.

"Luna" said Hermione from her bed.

"Hermione?" asked Luna excitedly. "You were nearly dead."

\\\/

"What happened to Umbridge?" asked Hermione curiously after they were released back to Hogwarts. She, Luna, and Harry were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room. "The last I saw, she was going into the Forest."

"She was recovered by the Headmaster, according to McGonagall," answered Harry. "When we left her, she was just getting started. According to the McGonagall, the centaurs were unamused by her usual statements, and badly wounded her. She was barely alive when Dumbledore retrieved her."

The conversation turned to even more uncomfortable topics, like Ron's betrayal of the Light Side.

"I can't believe he'd do that," said Harry. Hermione tried to comfort him as best she could. "He was my brother!"

"I know, Harry," said Hermione, patting him on the back. Luna didn't look quite as jealous as one would think she'd be. It was likely that Luna understood her and Harry's relationship—completely platonic.

It was after dinner that night that Luna led Hermione to an unused classroom, where she told Hermione of Dumbledore's great battle with Voldemort, and of everything that happened after Hermione went down.

"Can I tell you a secret?" asked Luna, leaning in to get as close as possible to Hermione.

From Luna's tone, Hermione could tell that it might not be a secret that she actually wanted to know, but said, "Yes," anyway.

"I killed Antonin Dolohov," said the younger girl in a low voice.

"Won't you get in trouble for that?" asked Hermione. "And how do you feel, knowing that you took a life?"

"The Aurors have determined that Dolohov died in the crossfire," said Luna. "The Lovegoods weren't always as crazy as we make ourselves out to be. We're closely related to the Black family, you know. I have theoretical knowledge of many curses that I'm not sure that you could find anywhere other than our house, and the Black's House, wherever that is."

"And you?"

"It is not something that I will make a habit of," said Luna. "If you were to genuinely die, I'd likely go out in a hail of spellfire, while trying to take as many of them with me as I could. My soul remains whole."

"But I want you to be happy, not get yourself killed in a suicide run," exclaimed Hermione.

"Then don't get yourself killed on the battlefield," said Luna, cutting off all attempts at a rebuttal by kissing the older witch.

The two girls talked a while longer before Hermione went back to the Common Room.

\\\/

Ron did not return to Hogwarts for the rest of term. Hermione figured that he was wherever the Death Eaters were. While she shed a few tears over the fact that he'd changed sides, she considered him to be a traitor and would treat him as such.

When the school year was over, Hermione managed to convince her parents to allow Luna to come over for a week, and then allow her to visit Luna's house.

"How exactly do you feel about this girl?" asked Dan Granger, Hermione's father. He had been afraid that this day would come sooner or later. He just didn't think that 'that day' would also come with a girlfriend, instead of a boyfriend.

He couldn't be as threatening to a girl.

"She's my absolute best friend, and I love her," responded Hermione.

"You _love _her?"

"Yes, Dad, I do," said Hermione. "She is the sweetest, most brilliant, oddest, wonderful person I've ever known."

"What about that Harry bloke that you went on about for the past five years?"

"Harry is a good friend to both of us," said Hermione. "Purely platonic at this stage. Quite possibly forever."

Eventually, Dan agreed, but stated that 'the girls have to have separate bedrooms.'

"Of course, Dad, we're not ready for that yet," said Hermione. "In fact, we won't be ready for that until 13 February 1998."

"Luna's birthday?" asked Dan with no small bit of anxiety, knowing that was the most probable answer. Hermione nodded.

Luna came over a couple of days later, and got along quite well with the Grangers, especially Emma, who seemed to be an older version of Hermione.

Over the next couple of days, Hermione introduced Luna to all sorts of Muggle things, like London, theme parks, the Underground, clothing stores.

Hermione didn't like to go clothes shopping. She never had. She wished that there was a way to buy clothes on demand and not have to deal with the hassle of looking for her size. This time, however, she had someone else, her own age, with her. A someone who had never experienced the horrors of clothes shopping.

"Damn, it's too bad I'm still underage," complained Hermione. "I'd just buy a bag and cast Undetectable Extensions Charms and Featherweight Charms on it. That way, we wouldn't have to haul all this around."

Luna just looked on, thinking. _Should I tell her that I could easily get around the charm at my place?_

"If you were at my house," said Luna, "You would be able to. The Ministry can only detect Magic. They can't tell who's casting the magic. My house is a known Wizard Residence."

\\\/

One thing that Hermione noticed about her girlfriend was Luna's ability to rile up Dan Granger, using some of the same tactics that she used with Hermione—talk about her strange creatures and go off on ridiculous tangents. She'd even prepared new material concerning the Prime Minister.

Sometimes logic and illogic come together. Their names were Hermione and Luna.

\\\/

After a couple of weeks in the Muggle world, Hermione left her house and went to Luna's. There, she met Luna's father, a man who truly looked like an older, male, version of Luna. He seemed to be even more strange than his daughter.

"Mummy was always the sane one in the family," Luna said later that night. "Once she died, Daddy started to believe even more in all of the animals, the conspiracy theories, and everything he printed in the paper. It was all quite sad. I'm not sure whether he will ever be more sane again."

Hermione noticed that Luna had a mural of the two of them on her ceiling, liked by a chain that said 'Best Friends'. It was rather odd seeing her own face staring down at her.

"I wasn't sure how to do the animation charms, see," said Luna. "Otherwise, it would've been a fully moving portrait."

Hermione thought about Luna's mum, and how wonderful a woman she must have been.

Sometimes logic and illogic come together. Their names were Selene Pandora Lovegood and Xenophilius Lovegood.

\\\/

The girls met Harry and the Weasleys in Diagon Alley a couple of days later. They had just gotten money from Gringotts when they heard explosions.

_That is not a good sound, _thought Hermione. Her thoughts were echoed by her two best friends. They drew their wands and rushed out onto the Alley.

"Our duel was cut short last time, Potter," called Ronald Weasley, wearing the robes of a Death Eater. "Are you prepared to die?"

"At your hands?" asked Harry sarcastically. "I think not."

Hermione and Luna aimed at Ron, who was joined by Bellatrix Lestrange. They started to fire spells at each other.

"Luna, use something more lethal!" shouted Harry. "I know what happened in the DoM!"

This got Luna in the right state of mind to use some of the higher-powered spells she knew. She also realised that no matter what happened, she was likely not going to leave the battlefield under her own power.

Neville showed up a few minutes later, and started to engage Bellatrix who, despite her extreme skill, was having a hard time fighting off three people of extraordinary skill.

It was then that Ron attacked Harry again. Harry ducked, causing the spell to fly over his head, raining down bricks from a nearby building. Harry banished the debris at Ron, and Ron flew back.

Harry saw that Ron hadn't died yet, so he cast _Sectumsempra _at the Death Eater, which caused Ron to die quite painfully.

"You tortured my parents, prepare to die," chanted Neville in between spells. Bellatrix was having a hard time evading very lethal spells from four different sources. Neville cast a Reductor to her chest, and she flew backwards.

He disarmed her, and stood over her. "I could kill you, you realise that," said Neville. "I just won't kill you. Not yet."

He turned to Harry. "Should I blow her limbs off or completely wipe her mind to start?"

"You know how to do that?" asked Harry.

"Well, no," said Neville. "But that doesn't exactly matter now does it?"

He then decided to blow off her limbs, and then used a nasty spell to remove all of her hair. She was almost orgasmically screaming in pain as he did this.

"I guess she gets off on pain," commented Neville. Harry started to cast a couple of spells that Hermione didn't even know that he knew, and was joined by Neville.

The two boys grasped hands and said, "Together!" before casting the spells that ended Bellatrix's life.

Harry and Neville were exhausted, but running on adrenaline, as were Hermione and Luna. "Let's go check the rest of the Alley!" called Harry, and they rushed through the Alley.

They could see bodies littering the streets, some of which were recognisable, like the Malfoys or Lupin. When they got near the Leaky Cauldron, they saw Voldemort facing off against Dumbledore again.

All of a sudden, a giant buffalo appeared over Voldemort's head and fell on him. The buffalo quickly disappeared and Harry rushed in to help Dumbledore. Together, they cast a cutting charm that removed Voldemort's head, killing him for good.

A great cheer came from the survivors as they saw what happened, just as Harry and the others collapsed from magical exhaustion.

\\\/

It was later that day that the children woke up.

"You didn't have too many major injuries," said the Healer examining them. "You were just exhausted. You four cast a lot of magic. You cast more magic in a couple of minutes than I usually cast in a month. And your cores are recovering nicely, too."

Hermione looked around. They appeared to be in a mobile hospital unit. If she didn't know better, she'd say that they were on the Muggle side of the Cauldron, but that couldn't be the case.

"There are Muggle-repelling charms on this tent, Miss Granger," said the Healer, as if she was reading Hermione's mind.

The tent seemed to be an entire floor of a hospital. It was very much bigger-on-the-inside.

"Now, I'd like you four to take it easy for at least 24 hours," said the Healer. "Don't stress yourself for about another week, and you should be good, medically."

The Healer walked off, and Albus Dumbledore came over to their beds. "You brave children," he said lovingly.

"How many died, Headmaster?" asked Harry.

"Too many," said Dumbledore. "On both sides. So far, we've found Severus, the Malfoys, Lupin, and Tonks, and we're trying to sort out who each of the other dead are."

"I killed three people today, Headmaster," admitted Harry, sadly. "I killed my former best friend, I helped to kill Bellatrix Lestrange, and I helped to kill Tom."

"It is the fact that you feel sadness, remorse for those that have been killed that sets you apart from Tom and his Death Eaters," said Dumbledore wisely. "I once had to do battle with an old friend. He remains in prison for his crimes."

\\\/

"You're thinking about Harry, aren't you," asked Luna a couple of days later.

"He is my best friend, my brother," explained Hermione. "I can't imagine what it's like for him, having to kill three people in one day, one of which was his former best friend."

"I just worry that you'll go back to him," said Luna.

"Don't you ever think that, Lu," said Hermione. "You are the most important person in my life. I would kill a Death Eater for you. I would never do that to you. Harry would never do that to you. He loves us both too much to interfere in our love life."

A few days after Voldemort's defeat, Hermione received two letters. One was from her parents, inviting her and Luna to join them in Paris. The other was from Gringotts for the Will Reading of Sirius Black, who had been the reason Harry had been so mad at Bellatrix. Curiously, Luna was invited to that one as well.

Hermione immediately accepted both offers.

"Paris will be fun," said Luna. "They have the second largest Magical Alley there."

"There's also the Eiffel Tower, and the museums, and all that stuff," said Hermione. "The Muggles call it the 'City of Love' as they find it romantic."

"Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you, 'Mione?" asked Luna.

\\\/

Sirius' will gave Hermione and Luna both exorbitant amounts of money, along with their pick of books from the Black Library.

Harry received the title of Lord Black, Number 12, a ludicrous amount of money, and various possessions.

A couple of days later, Luna and Hermione were on their way to Paris. They ended up having quite a good time there, going to museums and the magical alley.

\\\/

It was sad when Luna and Hermione had to go their separate ways after being within feet of each other nearly the entire summer. Luna was starting her OWL year, and Hermione was starting her sixth year. They wouldn't be able to have classes together at all.

After the meal, Dumbledore gave his announcements. "We are welcoming an old friend back to the castle: please welcome Professor Slughorn, who will be taking over potions and as Head of Slytherin House."

The roar of approval was overwhelming. Everyone had hated Snape.

"Due to the fact that our previous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was severely injured at the end of the year, she has decided not to join us," said Dumbledore to just as much applause. "Taking her place will be Professor Kingsley Shacklebolt on loan from the Aurors."

There was a polite applause for the Afro-Caribbean Auror. Hermione figured that his classes would be good—he'd assigned decent textbooks.

"This summer, Mr Potter and I defeated Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore to shudders and roaring applause. "There were many casualties on both sides. I would like to have a moment of silence to remember those who were killed."

He looked at his watch, and after a minute, he concluded his speech. "Well, I should think that I've bored you quite long enough. You have classes in the morning to prepare for, so pip pip off to bed. Prefects and Head Students, please lead the first-years to their dormitories."

Hermione stood up, her prefect badge on her uniform. "Gryffindor First-Years, follow me!" she called. She looked at some of the First-Years. Ron had been right the previous year—they did seem smaller. _It's probably all a relative size thing._

She waved to Luna, who was heading towards the doors. Luna waved back.

\\\/

Back in the Common Room, Harry was talking to everyone. He was apologising to the Weasleys for the death of Ron, directly at his hand.

"He was a prat," said the twins. "It doesn't make it hurt less, but he wrote his warrant last year when he joined Snakeface."

"I completely forgive you, Harry," said Ginny. "It still doesn't mean that we'll ever have a relationship, though."

She gestured towards Neville. Hermione had the feeling they would get together by the end of the year.

\\\/

That year was free of any distractions of tournaments or crazy dictatorial professors or threats from Voldemort, so Luna and Hermione spent a lot of time together. It was almost disconcerting for Hermione when her girlfriend, a year younger than her, was able to point out things in the texts that she hadn't noticed.

Or fix grammar that Hermione didn't even notice needed to be fixed.

And Hermione was able to quiz Luna on nearly everything she needed to know about the exams. Their relationship was quite strong, and Hermione intended on proposing the minute that Luna turned seventeen. It might not be completely legal, but it would be a nice thing for them.

Harry was also doing quite well with his schoolwork. Being an Auror was a secondary career choice for Harry now. He'd already killed too many people, and wasn't sure that he could do that again. That said, he was getting top grades in all of his classes, including potions, now that Snape was no longer teaching.

"Maybe I'll do Quidditch for a couple of years, and reevaluate from there," he told Hermione. He admitted that there were some times that he felt guilty, and that he had nightmares of the battles, but that he was still mostly fit mentally.

The next year, Hermione was made Head Girl, and proceeded to abuse the associated privileges quite often. The Head Girl had her own dormitory office, so Luna was often there. This was technically against the rules, but all of the professors turned a blind eye. Some of her Ravenclaw classmates complained that she spent as much time in Gryffindor Tower as she did in Ravenclaw Tower. They conveniently forgot that they'd been bullying her and trying to get her to leave for the past five years.

Hermione and Luna had advanced their relationship to sleeping in the same bed, just sleeping. Professor Flitwick knew of this behaviour, but did not complain, seeing as his Ravenclaws' abuse of Luna had been pointed out to him.

\\\/

Luna's birthday was on a Friday that year, so Hermione wanted to make it a weekend long combined Luna's birthday and Valentine's Day celebration.

During the Christmas holidays, Hermione had gone to see Xenophilius Lovegood and ask for permission to ask Luna to marry her. Mr Lovegood was very pleased. He always wanted his little Moonbeam to be happy, and now she was about to be 17. Hermione had also sneaked away to get Luna a ring—for that she used some of the money that Sirius had given her.

Most of the money she'd invested in supposedly safe investments, but she had kept enough to pay for her daily needs, and a ring.

Early in the day of Luna's birthday, Hermione told her that her biggest present would come after dinner. In the meantime, Hermione gave Luna an enchanted razor for her legs and a watch, along with books about the Muggle world (mostly written by Muggle-borns, Muggle family members, or Squibs). Luna was excited for the gifts she already received that she couldn't imagine how Hermione could top this.

After dinner, Hermione encouraged Luna to just go to the Gryffindor Common Room. She had negotiated with Dobby so that a chocolate cake (Luna's favourite flavour) would be delivered to the room. Everyone in Gryffindor plus Luna could have a party.

As always, Dobby had gone a bit overboard. He'd provided a couple of cakes, drinks, and various other candy items, a large table with a nice tablecloth, and large stacks of plates and cups. Hermione made sure that everyone got back to the Common Room first, so that she could surprise Luna.

"SURPRISE!" screamed everybody as Luna walked in. She seemed to be happy that everyone liked her so much. In the middle of the party, Hermione pulled Luna off to the side a little bit, got down on one knee, and took a box out of her bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

"Luna Selene Lovegood, you are most important person in my life, and I would like to go Crumpled-Horn Snorkack hunting with you," Hermione said. "Luna Lovegood, will you make me the happiest woman on this planet by agreeing to marry me?"

"Oh, Hermione, you can't be the happiest woman on the planet, because that's me!" said the stranger witch. "But of course, I will allow you on a Hunt."

She laughed at the look on Hermione's face. "Of course I will marry you." Hermione put the ring on Luna's finger, and the room started to applaud. There were squeals and other various noises when the girls started to kiss.

That night, after the party was over, Luna and Hermione were in the Head Dormitory. "I really am going to miss this, you know," she said.

"What?"

"The room, being able to be with you all the time," replied Luna.

"Don't tell anyone, but Professor McGonagall has offered me an apprenticeship," said Hermione. "She and I would split the classes for a few years, and we would work together on an Advanced Transfiguration project. That means, you only have to leave if you want to."

"I'd like that," said Luna. "Would it be one of those deals where you have to stay here a certain amount of time?"

"No," said Hermione. "Either of us can end it when we want. It even comes with a small stipend, and quarters. Quarters that are not connected to the host teacher's quarters."

"Take it," said Luna. "This is one of the best things to happen to you."

"I know,"

\\\/

A couple of months later, Hermione left the school for the last time as a student, and with some of the highest marks known to Wizardkind. Privately, Dumbledore had told her that her grades were likely to be just a few points behind his and that was saying something.

Harry had also gotten good marks, which were not quite as good as Hermione's.

Hermione met her parents at the train station. She had told them about her engagement, and her actions getting off the train confirmed it, as Hermione was holding her fiancée's hand. They kissed before going over to meet Hermione's parents.

"Mum, Dad, this is my fiancée, Luna Lovegood," introduced Hermione, even though they'd met last summer and a couple of summers ago.

"Congratulations," said Emma Granger. "You have to tell us all about it."

"And don't forget to tell them your other news, as well," mentioned Luna.

"What other news?" asked Dan Granger, in the tone that clearly stated that he would not be happy if certain words were the next ones out of her mouth.

"Professor McGonagall wants to take me on as an apprentice," said Hermione. "It is a great honour, and is a path to becoming a teacher at the school."

Both of the Granger parents hugged their daughter, telling her how proud they were of her.

That night, Luna and her father came over for dinner. "So, what is the magical world's view on...this?"

"On gay people?" asked Xeno. "There are spells available for female gay people to have children, and we believe that they are perfectly able to have a family and get married. It's really only a subset of the Muggle-borns that have a problem with that."

"Spells to have children?" asked Dan, intrigued.

"For women, there is a spell that mixes the magical essence of the two parents," said Xeno knowingly.

"Think mixing DNA, dad," said Hermione.

"What happens when two men fall in love?" followed up Dan. "I know that one of Hermione's friends likes another guy."

"There is a spell for men," said Xeno. "But it requires a host. The two men choose a carrier, generally a poor, uneducated girl, and use the spell to implant an embryo in the female. It pays rather a lot, but each girl can only go through the procedure once. All other pregnancies have to be done the normal way."

"So there's no such thing as male pregnancy?"

"Merlin's beard, no!" laughed Xeno. "Only in the tabloids that print material even more outrageous than my paper."

"Is there a limit with two girls?" asked Dan, wanting to know how many possible grandchildren he could have.

"Only a self-imposed one," said Xeno.

Hermione noticed that her future father-in-law was speaking more coherently than usual, making fewer references to the things his paper wrote, and generally a charming man. It seems some time out of the Rookery was doing him some good.

\\\/ Epilogue: 19 years later

Luna and Hermione Lovegood-Granger had been married eighteen years. Their marriage had produced three children, the last of which was now entering Hogwarts.

They were on the platform, saying goodbye to their children, when Luna saw Draco, along with his wife (whom Luna didn't recognise), and their three children. She whispered to Rose, their youngest, "You beat them on every test, okay?"

"Don't go spoiling them against the Malfoys," said Hermione. "Astoria is a perfectly nice woman, and her children are nice as well."

"What if I'm in Slytherin or worse, Ravenclaw?" asked Rose timidly.

"Rose, you are smart enough for Ravenclaw," said Hermione. "If you keep your mind in this world, you won't face any problems. In any case, whichever House you get in to will receive a wonderful young woman. You can ask it for Gryffindor if you want. It doesn't mean that it will acquiesce to your request, but you can try."

"Okay, mummy," said Rose.

"Go find your brothers," said Luna. "Have a good time, learn a lot, and go Gryffindor!"

Rose laughed as she went to find her brothers Daniel and Sirius.

Daniel was a Gryffindor fifth year, and a prefect. He was good on a broom, but also loved to learn.

Sirius was a Hufflepuff third year. He was the star chaser for the Hufflepuff team the previous years. Sirius, however, was quite similar to the person he was named after, as he loved to create trouble.

Rose, of course, was entering into her first year at the school. Both of her mothers had a suspicion that Gryffindor was in her future. She was quiet and kind, and had read most of the library at least once. However, there was that spark of Gryffindor-ness in her that they hoped the Hat could find.

"I can't believe that they're all at Hogwarts now," said Hermione.

"I know," said Luna. "Time flies so quickly."

Hermione Granger had many friends, in many walks of life, from Herbologists to Quidditch Players to Aurors, but none of them was as strange and illogical as her wife, Luna. That said, none of her friends were as sweet as the crazy girl she married.

Omake or Second Epilogue (Harry's life and times)

Harry Potter, of Godric's Hollow, was very happy with his life. The guilt of having to kill his former best friend really took its toll, but Harry had been getting help for that. A Mind-Healer had diagnosed him with something the Muggles called "PTSD", but his treatments were quite effective.

Harry ended up playing Quidditch, just he said he would, playing for the Ballycastle Bats and the English National Team. Before he retired, and turned to sports broadcasting (including calling Scottish rugby matches on the Wireless), he made the national team three times.

Eventually, Harry met and married one of his fans, a woman by the name of Julia Ivanova, who was of Russian descent. Together, they had three children: James, Sirius, and Lily, who were the best friends of the Lovegood-Granger children.

His first two children were in Gryffindor, while Lily was entering her first year.

Julia and Harry lived a good life. As they were leaving King's Cross after dropping their children off, Harry glimpsed his scar in the mirror. It had not pained him in twenty years. All was well.

Omake or Third Epilogue (Clan Weasley):

The Weasley family was not quite the same after Ron's betrayal and death. The Weasleys did not hold Harry responsible at all for killing Ron, but Harry stayed away just the same.

Bill Weasley ended up meeting Fleur Delacour at Gringotts and, despite his mother's attempts to get him to marry someone else, married the part-Veela in a ceremony in France. Molly, who had insulted Fleur one too many times, did not attend the ceremony once she found out that it would not be held at the Burrow. The rest of the family attended. Eventually, they had four children, two boys and two girls.

Charlie Weasley met a fellow Dragonkeeper in Romania, and married her. Molly refused to attend that wedding as well, and Charlie never stepped foot on English soil again. Their children went to one of the American schools, where they had excellent grades on the MSAT (Magical SAT) and other standardised tests. He and his wife travelled the world with a grandson of Newt Scamander, attempting to find and study new/previously unknown magical creatures.

Percy Weasley was the most boring out of all his siblings. He married Daphne Greengrass, who worked at the Ministry, and together, they had three children, only because that was the closest whole number to the average. Percy continued to work at boring jobs in the Ministry until he died of a Muggle disease at the relatively young age of 75.

Fred and George Weasley continued their joke shop, and were tremendously successful. Within ten years of their shop opening, they were pulling in over ten-thousand Galleons a month. They married Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnett. Both women managed to have twins, born on the same day at the same exact time. Minerva McGonagall threatened to retire by the time they arrived at Hogwarts. A few years later, the women each had an additional set of twins.

Ginny married Neville, and the two were very happily married. Neville worked as a Herbologist, and Ginny played for the Holyhead Harpies. After her career, she also joined the staff of Sports Wireless, before joining the Hogwarts staff as a flying instructor. Neville was the top supplier of potions ingredients in Britain.

The Weasley family, as a whole, were satisfied with their lives, even though certain members of the family disapproved of most of the spouses. Arthur continued to work at the Ministry, until he was forced to retire at the age of 115. He then annoyed his wife by tinkering with Muggle objects in his shed for the rest of his life.

All was well.

A/N:

Luna is 513 days (1 year, 4 months and 25 days) younger than Hermione: 19 September 1979 and 13 February 1981

In a previous draft, the Common Room blowup was a lot bigger than it turned out to be, and Luna actually used the Killing Curse to defeat Dolohov and then mused how Harry wasn't able to get a revenge shot in (at Bellatrix)

Hermione turns 17 on 19 September 1996 (at the beginning of sixth year), Luna turns 17 on 13 February 1998 (Hermione's seventh year, Luna's sixth year)


	3. Luna's Tale (her version of Chapter 2)

Logic and Illogic

by: coolhacker1025

Standard Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters involved. Harry Potter belongs to J.K. Rowling, et. al Warnings: possibly Ron!bashing, femmeslash, eventual Hermione/Luna

This is Luna's version of the events of Chapter 2. Some of the dialogue might not be the same, as two people might (and probably would) remember the same conversation differently (It also has a corresponding perspective switch near the end)

\\\/

Luna Lovegood knew that she was strange. She saw the world differently than others. Unfortunately, this meant that she had no friends.

She may not have had any friends, but there was one person who truly intrigued Luna Lovegood—Hermione Granger, a Gryffindor a year ahead of her.

She'd noticed Hermione throughout her first three years of school, but only started to interact with the girl in her third year—she knew that Hermione needed help so that Harry Potter would not die in the Triwizard Tournament.

The Nargles were telling her to go over and introduce herself to the older girl. Everyone, even the Ravenclaws, were of the opinion that Hermione Granger was the most Ravenclaw of all the Gryffindors. Some went as far as to say that the Hat got it wrong two years in a row—that Hermione should've been in Ravenclaw, and that Luna, due to her oddness and lack of fitting in, should've been put in Hufflepuff.

Luna tried to ignore statements like that. She knew that she was smart enough to be in Ravenclaw.

Luna went over to the Gryffindor Fourth Year. She noticed that the girl had made a few mistakes with the runes translation she was doing, so Luna automatically started to correct the mistakes. Luna noticed the older girl look at her original translations and then at the translations Luna had done, and then looked astonished.

"How do you know so much about Runes?" asked Hermione Granger.

"Oh, Daddy does an article about them every so often," said Luna. "He's the editor of a newspaper called _The Quibbler._"

"I don't mean to be rude," started Hermione, obviously forgetting that most of the time when you start a sentence like that, you're about to say something rude. "But who exactly are you? I don't think that you're a fourth-year, as I've not seen you in class."

_Not quite rude, _thought Luna before she answered. "I'm Luna Lovegood. Ravenclaw, third year."

"And why did you come over to see me?"

"The Nargles told me to," replied Luna. The Nargles had in fact told her to. Nargles were not of this world, so most people thought that they didn't exist.

"The what?"

"Nargles," repeated Luna. "They are quite mysterious and mischievous creatures that are known to infect mistletoe."

"Why did they tell you to come here?"

"You needed it," replied Luna. "Your runes were wrong, and I think that you need someone to talk to. Other than your friends Ronald Weasley and Harry Potter, of course."

Hermione laughed. Luna realised that she really liked that sound. "I suppose you're right," she said. "Thanks for the help. I should be getting back to the Common Room before they think anything bad has happened to me."

Luna laughed.

\\\/

Unfortunately for Luna, every time that Hermione was in the library for the next couple of weeks, she was surrounded by people. No private talking. She'd watched the first task, of course, and had been amazed by Harry Potter's flying skills.

_Maybe I'll make a Gryffindor hat for next year, _Luna thought to herself. _A lion hat that makes a realistic roar._

The Nargles were telling her all about the next task, and that Harry needed to use a plant. She noticed Hermione in the library, looking at all sorts of odd books with all sorts of odd spells in them. She shook her head, as the Gryffindor girl was really overthinking things this time.

"You don't want that section," Luna told Hermione. "Magical plants will help Harry Potter with his goal. I don't know which, but asking someone might help."

"Which what?"

"You are very confusing some times, Hermione Granger," said Luna. "I meant which plant Harry Potter will need. I suppose you thought that I meant which goal. Wrackspurts must have interfered with my line of thought."

"I could say that you are a very confusing individual some times as well, Luna," replied Hermione. "Both times that I've talked to you, you've mentioned creatures that I've never even heard of before—Nargles and Wrackspurts."

"Well, many people don't think that they exist," replied Luna. "Stick to plants for Harry Potter for this round. Don't go overthinking things like parting the waters or whatnot."

Hermione had taken Luna's advice and gone to see Neville Longbottom. Luna knew that he was the son of the famous Aurors Frank and Alice Longbottom, who'd been tortured into insanity by Bellatrix Lestrange. Although Luna didn't completely believe that story, as she'd read an article in _The Quibbler_ that suggested that the Longbottoms had been cured almost immediately, but had been drugged out of their minds for the past thirteen years. It was a plausible theory, as the Minister of Magic at the time had been known to think of the Longbottoms as wanting his job or being too ambitious. Being politically incorrect for his views.

Luna didn't know whether the story was true or not, but she hoped it wasn't. She truly believed that Neville was suffering more, seeing his parents alive but unable to recognise him, than Harry Potter was, as he couldn't really remember his parents much.

For the rest of the year, Hermione Granger was very busy. Luna heard rumours that Hermione had gone to the Yule Ball with Viktor Krum, the famous Bulgarian Quidditch Star and Triwizard Champion from Durmstrang. It must have been nice to go to the Ball. Luna wasn't old enough.

Luna watched the Second and Third Tasks, which were nearly opposite in their results, in her opinion. The Second Task, he'd won the task, and had brought back a second hostage (as Fleur Delacour, Beauxbatons, had forfeited the task). The Third Task had been a complete failure.

First, Harry returned with the dead body of one of his competitors—a Hufflepuff Quidditch star who most of the girls thought was cute. He'd gone out with one of her tormentors, one of the people saying she should be in Gryffindor or Hufflepuff, Cho Chang, a Chinese girl whose father was a man of some importance.

Second, Viktor Krum had been placed under the Imperious Curse, and forced to torture the other competitors. He was very remorseful when he heard what he'd done, but the damage had already been done.

Third, Harry claimed that You-Know-Who had returned. It was something that she didn't want to believe, but if Harry Potter said it and Hermione believed him, it was probably true.

It was a mournful feeling that consumed the school. A Tournament that had been discontinued for its Death Toll, had claimed another student.

She met Hermione again before they got off the train and hugged her. She liked Hermione. It was almost like having a friend.

Luna had a fairly good summer that year, despite the threat of Lord Voldemort's return. She was absolutely astounded when she heard from Hermione that Harry had been attacked by a Dementor and had been charged with crimes for it. She breathed a sigh of relief when she heard that Harry Potter had been cleared of all charges.

Luna didn't actually see Hermione again until when they were getting off the train, and into the carriages.

"They're called Thestrals," said Luna to Harry Potter and his friends. "They're invisible, and can only be seen by somebody who has seen death."

Luna was not surprised to see the Prefects badge on Hermione's robes. What she was surprised about was its absence on Harry Potter's robes, and its inclusion on Ronald Weasley's clothes.

"Who are you?" asked Harry Potter. There was no tone of malice in his voice. It actually sounded quite friendly. _Having friends seems to be quite nice_, she thought to herself. _Even if they aren't officially friends._

"Oh, her?" laughed Ginny, the red-headed, closed-minded, Harry-centric girl who lived a couple of hills over from her in a place called The Burrow in Ottery St Catchpole. "That's Looney, I mean, Luna Lovegood. She's the same year as me, except in Ravenclaw."

Ginny pretended that she hadn't made the slip with Luna's 'nickname', but Luna noticed it. It just proved to Luna what an opinionated girl Ginny Weasley was.

Luna could tell that Hermione was subtly looking at her, and taking in her appearance. Luna knew that hormones were quite powerful at the age they were, and perhaps that's what was fuelling Hermione's looks.

"She's quite brilliant, actually," admitted Hermione, attempting to hide a blush. "She's almost as smart as I am."

Luna smiled. She really liked Hermione. The girl was smart, attractive, and knew how to handle herself.

\\\/

It was shortly into the term that Hermione and Luna met in the library. They helped each other with their homework, making it much more efficient. It quickly turned into a regular occurrence, usually when Harry had detention with so-called 'Professor' Umbridge. Hermione frequently complained about the Defence Against the Dark Arts class and textbook. Luna agreed. A first year could write a better book. It was certainly inappropriate for a class of their calibre.

_It could work in a first or second year class,_ thought Luna. _But that's about it._

Luna didn't hate many people, but she hated Dolores Umbridge. The woman had threatened her and her father, claiming that she had the weight of the Ministry behind her. Her threats turned out to be empty, as Umbridge had been laughed out of the Auror Office for suggesting that Luna's father should be arrested on various charges for writing that Fudge baked Goblins into pies and other things.

Umbridge had made life difficult for the Lovegoods, attempting to have them shut down on multiple occasions—they'd had to fight closure notices in court multiple times. Luna supposed it was their lack of loyalty to the current Minister of Magic (another person that Luna very much disliked, but didn't hate), to their support of Harry Potter (lately), and the fact that they didn't despise so-called Dark Creatures, like werewolves and vampires.

Luna fondly remembered her second year when Remus Lupin had taught Defence Against the Dark Arts. He'd been a wonderful teacher—even if he'd only covered creatures. It wasn't saying much, but Lupin had certainly been a better professor than her first year DADA Professor, who she strongly suspected had been a complete fraud. She later learned from Hermione that he had been.

After hearing Hermione rant about Umbridge one day, Luna had a suggestion. "If we're not getting proper Defence classes, why not go to someone who will?"

"What do you mean?" asked Hermione. "We can't exactly ask Professor Lupin back to the castle. And Professor Moody last year was not the _real _Professor Moody. It was a man called Barty Crouch, Jnr."

Luna let out a grimace at the name.

"I see you've heard of him," said Hermione. "I, for one, don't know much about him, other than that he was a Death Eater."

"That's bad enough," said Luna. "But it's not my place to say what landed him in Azkaban. It was such a heinous crime that Bellatrix Lestrange herself was involved."

"Bellatrix Lestrange?"

"Voldemort's top lieutenant," answered Luna. "The only reason she wasn't a Dark Lady herself was that she was a follower of Him."

Hermione shuddered. "That bad?"

"Very much so," replied Luna. "But going back to my suggestion: Who do we know that is good at Defence Against the Dark Arts, and has survived Voldemort three times, if I remember correctly?"

\\\/

"Harry has agreed to help with the Defence group," said Hermione. "Assuming that he ever gets out of detention. If he could keep a cooler head, he wouldn't take Her bait all of the time."

"I know what you mean," said Luna. "She often tries to bait me for my family's views—on Harry Potter, on the creatures in _The Quibbler_, on politicians. She doesn't like me at all."

"She's just so bigoted," exclaimed Hermione, in a low voice, of course, as they were in the library. "I mean, I've almost gotten used to the Blood-Status bigots, but she takes it to a different level. I think that if she's not a Death Eater herself, she's certainly a sympathiser."

"Most people would say that the world isn't divided into good people and Death Eaters, but I would agree with your statement."

Luna then told her friend about her various run-ins with the Ministry person. She would say 'hag', but that would be insulting to hags. Hags were much better at magic than Umbridge was. She'd say toad, but again, that would be insulting to toads. They were much better looking than Her.

\\\/

"Where do you go all of the time?" asked one of Luna's classmates on her return to the Common Room. "You can't be on a date, because who would go out with you?"

"It is none of your business where I go in my free time," responded Luna. "Now, please get out of my way before I have to make you."

The girl left, and Luna went up to her dormitory. It hurt sometimes, all of the insults, but they were only words. As long as they weren't taking her things.

\\\/

"They asked me where I was," said Hermione, the next time she and Luna were in the library. "I told them I was in the library, but I don't think that Harry completely believed me. I think that he thinks that I'm collaborating with the twins to overthrow She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named."

Luna laughed. "She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, I like that."

"I think that was a reasonable assumption, though, based on the fact that the Weasley twins did something that caused her to let Harry out of detention early," said Hermione. "She has him writing with a blood quill."

"That's not good," said Luna. "That's not good at all. Those are illegal under most circumstances, and are only allowed for contracts and things. The more she forces him to write with that, the more he'll say."

"What do you mean?"

"It's a sort of blood magic to seal a contract," said Luna. "What's he writing?"

"I must not tell lies," said Hermione. "It's barbaric. It's literally etched in his own chicken-scratch on the back of his hand."

"And because he wrote it as a contract, in blood, he will continue not to lie," replied Luna. "Thereby giving The Toad-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named more chances to get him in detention."

"That hag!" exclaimed Hermione, just loud enough that people around her made shushing noises at her.

"I'd say the same, but that is insulting to hags," replied Luna.

\\\/

DA meetings started soon after. The official name was 'Dumbledore's Army', but Luna had a feeling that name would come back to bite them one of these days. She'd preferred 'Defence Association.' It was a much less politically charged name. Both could be abbreviated to "DA" of course.

She therefore got to see her friend more often. They often sparred in DA meetings. Luna noticed that Ronald Weasley seemed to be getting more protective of Hermione, and not in a good way. It was more of a stalkerish way.

It was after one of these meetings that Luna and Hermione kissed for the first time. Everyone, including Harry, had already left, and it was just Hermione and Luna.

Luna knew that Hermione was going for her cheek, but Luna turned her head just in time for Hermione to kiss her on the lips. Luna realised that she enjoyed it quite a bit more than she'd been expecting. They continued to kiss until they both needed to breathe.

"I liked that," said Luna. Hermione nodded, out of breath. It looked like she was having quite a good reaction to the kiss that she had initiated.

"So did I," said Hermione. "It's getting late, so I should probably escort you to your Common Room."

With Luna's instructions, Hermione escorted Luna to the Ravenclaw Common Room, where Hermione met the door for the first time. Hermione seemed surprised that there was a riddle instead of a password.

"Ravenclaw is for those who think," said Luna. "If you can get past the door, then you're likely worthy of being in the Common Room. Occasionally, even Ravenclaws get stuck outside, 'cause the eagle gave them a question they couldn't work out."

"How many times has that happened to you?" asked Hermione, almost certain of the answer.

"None," replied Luna, confirming what Hermione's suspicion was. "Night."

She reached up and kissed Hermione again, as the door opened. She enjoyed it just as much as the first time.

"So, you're with Granger?" asked one of her classmates. "What's it like?"

"She's a wonderful girl," replied Luna. "Very smart. Smarter than some of our colleagues."

The other girl laughed. "You realise that she's just going to go back to Potter, right?"

"Why would she do that, when Harry is with that whore Miss Chang?" asked Luna rhetorically. "Or should I say that whore Prefect Miss Chang? Hermione doesn't feel romantic love towards Harry. Believe me."

"Well, fuck off then,"

"Well, at least someone kisses me," said Luna savagely. "Who was the last person to kiss you? Your mother?"

The next day, there were rumours that there had been _another _fight in the Gryffindor Common Room between Ronald and Hermione. Hermione confirmed that a couple of days later, when Ron was at Quidditch, and Harry was in the Common Room.

"Ron's being an ass," said Hermione. "Just as usual, he's being an overbearing, overprotective, stalking ass."

"What's he doing?"

"He wants me to be near him at all times," said Hermione. "He's using a family heirloom of Harry's to track my location."

"An heirloom?" asked Luna.

"It's a map of Hogwarts, created by his father," said Hermione. "It shows everyone in the school and where they are. It's completely up to date. I've never expressed an interest in him."

"Ronald is infested with Wrackspurts, Hermione," replied Luna. "He wants more than the friendly relationship you have. In his mind, you're abandoning him after all these years of friendship."

"I'm not abandoning him!" exclaimed Hermione quietly. "I just lo...I'm just more fond of you at this point."

Luna held her hand up in a placating gesture. "I know that you aren't abandoning him," she said. "You're just using your time more efficiently. I give you excellent incentive to get your work done quicker."

"Luna!"

"You know that you love me," said Luna with a grin.

"I do, Luna," said Hermione. Luna knew that her friend wasn't ready to finish that sentence yet, but she didn't care.

The Twins came over. "Did we hear you say that the Map is a family heirloom of Harry's?" they asked in an excited, but quiet voice.

"Harry's father and his friends created the Map at Hogwarts," said Hermione. "James was Prongs. You actually were living with two this past summer, and had one as a teacher a few years ago."

The Lumos charm lit over their heads. "Professor Lupin?"

"Moony," replied Hermione. "The owner of the...place we were in is Padfoot."

"We were living with two Marauders?!" exclaimed the Twins in their chorused voices. "What about the other one?"

"And Wormtail is Scabbers," said Hermione. "Also known as the person who betrayed the Potters, Peter Pettigrew."

The Twins fanboyed for a minute before returning to their regularly scheduled mayhem.

\\\/

"So Harry saw a snake attack Mr Weasley?" asked Luna, after they'd returned from winter break. "And he thinks that he was possessed by Him?"

"Pretty much," said Hermione. They weren't in the library this time, as it was too insecure. They were in the Room of Requirement. "I don't think that Harry thinks of the fact that without him telling us, Mr Weasley wouldn't have been found until it was too late."

"Harry Potter was likely brought up in a home that didn't love him," said Luna. "Just based on his reactions to things. It's not your fault that he does this. I'm sorry, but I don't know how to help."

"Just be yourself, Lu'," said Hermione. Luna noted the nickname. She liked how it sounded coming from her girlfriend's mouth.

Luna and Hermione continued meeting for the next couple of months, until the DA was found by Professor Umbridge. She and Luna managed to escape, only because they ducked into a nearby bathroom and cast a Disillusionment Charm on themselves, despite its relative difficulty. They still managed to locate each other and start to kiss.

Sometimes raw emotion overcomes everything else.

\\\/

"Luna, tell your girlfriend to put it right!" exclaimed Cho Chang in the Common Room that night.

"Your friend betrays us all, and you want me to put it right?" asked Luna. "I wouldn't do that if she were the last person on Earth. She deserves it, Hoe Chang. Just think of the magical skill necessary to do such a thing, and then remember that Nurse Pomfrey cannot fix it. What does that tell you?"

"I'd say it means that Granger is a damn, fine witch," said one of the male Ravenclaws.

"Don't get any ideas," said Luna. "Now, I'm going to bed before anyone else gets any strange ideas to betray us more. Or get us killed. Or expelled."

The next morning, Luna and Hermione passed each other on their way to classes, and Luna informed Hermione of the events of the Ravenclaw Common Room. "Cho has never liked me," she finished.

"Perhaps the Humdingers?"

Luna laughed, which caused Hermione to laugh. Her girlfriend's laughs were so pretty.

"You have to watch out, though," said the Ravenclaw. "Umbridge certainly knows the perpetrators of that group now. She'll have it even more in for you than usual."

"As will Cho. I've thought of that, and I accept that," said Hermione. "There are some things worth getting expelled over."

"What about me?"

"I'd get expelled and then smuggle you out," said Hermione. "We'd have to lay low for a couple of years, as it would technically be kidnapping and a whole lot of other charges, but we'd get out. Together."

"Exactly what I wanted to hear," said Luna. "Except, try not to get expelled. Kidnapping charges are so hard to beat."

_Except if you kill all the witnesses, but that leads to nasty things like murder charges,_ thought Luna. She knew enough of her family's history beyond the last couple of generations to know things like that. People who didn't know what the Lovegood Library contained were unwise. Very unwise.

Cho was a problem that Luna would have to go to the Hogwarts library about. The curses there weren't as interesting, but most of them were legal. Maybe some protective charms for her belongings.

She'd tried to go to Flitwick before, but he'd ignored her complaint completely. Not a thing had been done, and more of her belongings had gone missing. Most of them were returned in the end, but some were rather valuable.

If Harry weren't in such political trouble, she'd go to him to ask for protection of the House of Potter. That would really stop the bullies in their tracks, as they'd have to think whether or not they wanted to face Harry or not.

\\\/

The bullying was as bad as it ever had been in the Ravenclaw Common Room. Most of the Ravenclaws saw Luna's refusal to talk to her girlfriend about removing Marietta's spots to be a betrayal, and therefore treated Luna as such.

It was a couple of weeks after the betrayal of the DA that the Ravenclaws were attempting to school her on her betrayal. Then, Luna got a bad feeling. A Really Bad Feeling. She questioned the Nargles inside her head, and they told her that Hermione was in great mental pain, and on her way to the Room of Requirement.

"I don't really fucking care about this 'House Loyalty' bullshit," said Luna. "The only reason that any of us have ever been nice to the true Traitor is because she's been hiding behind Hoe Chang's skirt. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have other places to be."

"I don't think you do," said the sixth year male prefect. He took out his wand and made to attack her. Luna had him tied up against the wall before he could blink. She then ran out the door to find her girlfriend.

"I am going to fucking kill that girl," said the prefect. "She doesn't even belong in Ravenclaw."

"Stop your fucking whining, mate," said another Ravenclaw. "If you're going to insult her, at least do it when she's here. It's funnier."

\\\/

Luna ran to the Room of Requirement as Hermione was approaching.

"Luna, what are you doing here?" asked Hermione.

"Oh, I felt that I was needed here," replied Luna. "The Nargles told me."

"You realise what I'm about to do is illegal?" asked Hermione. "And that I will be contacting a known, but innocent criminal?"

"Are you calling Stubby Boardman?" asked Luna, jokingly. "I never believed that either of them would do that."

They activated the room, and it turned into a nice sitting room. "Cozy," commented the younger witch, sitting down on the sofa. Hermione sat down next to her, took the mirror out, and called "Sirius Black."

"Huh?" came a voice from the mirror. A second later, the picture activated. "Hermione? What's wrong?"

"Can I rant to you about Ron Weasley?" asked Hermione.

"Of course, start from the beginning, please?" asked Sirius. "And who's your lovely friend?"

"My very much underage friend is Luna Lovegood," said Hermione. "Her dad publishes _The Quibbler_."

"I thought I recognised the name," said Sirius. He turned his head towards Luna. "You look a lot like your mother. I knew her in school. Great in bed."

Luna had forgotten that her parents went to school at the same time as Sirius Black. She wasn't sure whether the man was embellishing his exploits or not, though.

"Sirius, shut up about Luna's mum!" said Hermione. "And listen to my story!"

Hermione started from the beginning all the way up until the events of the night. Midway through, Luna realised that her girlfriend needed comfort and decided to hug her.

"Ron and I shout every so often," said Hermione. "But it's never been this bad. I think that I even heard him use the «M» word as he was walking away."

"I don't suppose that you're asking me to do anything about this?" asked Sirius hopefully. "I could transform into Padfoot and take a dump in his bed. Or set up a convoluted series of traps that activate each other and then cause something embarrassing to happen to him."

"Sirius, you have to stay in the house," she said. "Besides, Ron already knows about your other form."

"Sometimes people grow apart," said Sirius. "Look what Wormtail did."

"Thanks, Sirius," said Hermione. "He's just been so different this year. By the way, the Twins know your true identity now."

"I liked those troublemakers of Molly's" responded Sirius. "They are truly heirs to the Marauders tradition. Oh, by the way, Luna, I love your father's articles. They've kept me going the last two years."

They closed the mirror, and went to their Common Rooms.

\\\/

"Where's your ex-friend Ronald?" asked Luna over Spring Break. She'd noticed that he wasn't there, but his siblings were.

"I don't know, I haven't been paying all that much attention," said Hermione. "Has he been missing long?"

"Since the start of Break at least," said Luna. "What is odd, however, is that Ginny and the Twins are here, but he is not."

"That is strange," said Hermione, thinking about it. "I'll see what Harry thinks about this."

"Have you told anyone?" asked Luna. "About us, I mean."

"Harry and Ginny know, along with the Twins," said Hermione. "They don't care. Harry actually thinks that he's bi."

"Interesting," said Luna, albeit without an eyebrow arch. Hermione had told her about _Star Trek _before, and it sounded interesting, but Luna had naturally never seen an episode. "I would have never called that."

Luna noticed that Ronald had returned by the start of Term, acting more like Malfoy than usual. Rumour had it that he was actually now an undercover member of the Inquisitorial Squad.

Unfortunately, Luna had to watch her girlfriend from afar for most of the term, as exams were coming up for her, and Hermione had the OWLs to revise for. Gryffindor had won the Quidditch Cup, but honestly it wasn't as fun without Harry being on the team.

It was on the Thursday that the OWLs finished that Luna felt her DA coin heat up. It not only heated up, but somehow, there was a mauve hue about it. Like a woman possessed, she ran down to the Forest, right as Harry and Hermione were emerging.

"What happened?" asked Ginny, who was running right behind them. Interestingly enough, so were Ron and Neville.

"We lured Umbridge into the forest; she may not survive," said Hermione. "Harry got a vision, similar to the one at Christmas, of his godfather being tortured in the Department of Mysteries."

"So what's the plan now?" asked Ginny.

"I go to the Ministry and save Sirius," said Harry.

"I think you mean that we go," said Ron. Neville, Ginny, Luna and Hermione all volunteered to go.

"Thank you," said Harry. "You're all nuts, but thank you."

They took thestrals to the Ministry of Magic. Some of them had a bit of trouble, as they'd never seen death. Luna actually could see them, due to her being a witness when her mother cast that fateful spell that awful day. Luna helped Hermione and Ginny, and Neville helped Ronald get onto a Thestral. Luna supposed that it would feel odd to be on a creature that you couldn't even see.

They got to the Department of Mysteries and got to the Prophesy Room, where Harry's vision showed Sirius to be. When they got there, it was deserted.

"There's a prophesy with your name on it," shouted Neville, so Harry went over to pick it up. As soon as he did, Death Eaters came out of the shadows.

"Give us the prophesy, Potter," said Lucius Malfoy.

_Oh, fuck, _thought Luna, right as she realised it was an ambush. A second after she thought that, Ronald went over and knelt before Bellatrix Lestrange.

"I serve my Master, my Lady," he said, reverentially. Bellatrix ordered him to stand, and Ron drew back his sleeve, showing the Dark Mark. "I serve the True Master. I have chosen the winning side."

_Double fuck, _thought Luna. _Shit, fuck, and everything else. This is a fucking trap._

Luna could see the look of betrayal in Harry's eyes and face. "Why?" he whispered. He had the look in his eyes that showed that he did not comprehend what was happening at all, and why his friend would betray him like that. "Why?" he repeated. His tone was one of someone who'd been betrayed.

"Now I am not in your shadow any longer," replied the Death Eater. "I serve the Dark Lord, and He will win!"

"You were supposed to be at my side, _fighting_ the Death Eaters," cried Harry. "You argued that Hermione would be killed if they got their hands on her. You have betrayed us all!"

"You will die, Potter," said Ron.

"You will try," said Harry. "Your master's tried it often enough, and I'm still here."

Ron shot a spell at Harry, who managed to avoid it, and then all hell broke loose.

\\\/

During the fighting, Hermione, Luna and Neville were separated from Harry and Ginny, who were fighting Lucius, Bellatrix, and Ron, and were fighting in another area of the Department of Mysteries.

Hermione noticed that Luna had been knocked unconscious by a spell, so she quickly revived her. Neville was fighting harder than they'd ever seen him fight before. They came across a room with a table in it, and were followed by a Death Eater. As soon as she saw the Death Eater, Luna cast the Silencing Charm on him.

Antonin Dolohov looked astonished that a girl had dared to silence him, and then looked at Hermione with a leer on his face. He grinned almost as insanely as Bellatrix, and then cast a purple spell at Hermione.

"Oh," she said before collapsing to the ground unconscious and very much in pain.

The next thing that Hermione knew, she was in a hospital bed. She looked around to see her girlfriend sitting next to her, with her head on Hermione's leg. Aside from the fact that she looked so sad, Luna looked so good.

"Luna" said Hermione from her bed.

"Hermione?" asked Luna excitedly. "You were nearly dead."

"How long have I been here?" asked Hermione.

"I don't know," said Luna. "I think that it's been a couple of days. We were both unconscious when we were brought in—I used a lot of magic after you went down."

\\\/

"What happened to Umbridge?" asked Hermione curiously after they were released back to Hogwarts. She, Luna, and Harry were sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room. "The last I saw, she was going into the Forest."

"She was recovered by the Headmaster, according to McGonagall," answered Harry. "When we left her, she was just getting started. According to the McGonagall, the centaurs were unamused by her usual statements, and badly wounded her. She was barely alive when Dumbledore retrieved her."

The conversation turned to even more uncomfortable topics, like Ron's betrayal of the Light Side.

"I can't believe he'd do that," said Harry. Hermione tried to comfort him as best she could. "He was my brother!"

"I know, Harry," said Hermione, patting him on the back. Luna didn't look quite as jealous as one would think she'd be. She knew (or hoped) that their relationship wasn't anything that would interfere.

It was after dinner that night that Luna led Hermione to an unused classroom, where she told Hermione of Dumbledore's great battle with Voldemort, and of everything that happened after Hermione went down.

"Can I tell you a secret?" asked Luna, leaning in to get as close as possible to Hermione.

Luna could tell that Hermione was wondering if she even wanted to know what Luna wanted to tell her. The older witch eventually whispered 'yes'.

"I killed Antonin Dolohov," said the younger girl in a low voice.

"Won't you get in trouble for that?" asked Hermione. "And how do you feel, knowing that you took a life?"

"The Aurors have determined that Dolohov died in the crossfire," said Luna. "The Lovegoods weren't always as crazy as we make ourselves out to be. We're closely related to the Black family, you know. I have theoretical knowledge of many curses that I'm not sure that you could find anywhere other than our house, and the Black's House, wherever that is."

"And you?"

"It is not something that I will make a habit of," said Luna. "If you were to genuinely die, I'd likely go out in a hail of spellfire, while trying to take as many of them with me as I could. I love you, Hermione. My soul remains whole."

"But I want you to be happy, not get yourself killed in a suicide run," exclaimed Hermione.

"Then don't get yourself killed on the battlefield," said Luna, cutting off all attempts at a rebuttal by kissing the older witch.

"I love you, too," said Hermione for the first time, which earned her another kiss.

The two girls talked a while longer before Luna went back to the Common Room.

\\\/

Ron did not return to Hogwarts for the rest of term. Luna shed no tears over him, but was saddened at the sense of betrayal that Harry Potter and Hermione were feeling. Needless to say, both Harry Potter and Hermione told her that they considered Ronald to be a traitor, and that they would treat him as such.

As they were riding the train back to London, Hermione told Luna some good news.

"My parents have agreed to let you come over," she said excitedly. "We can do a week at my house, and then go to your house for a week or so."

"That sounds great, 'Mione," replied Luna. She knew that Hermione loved her nickname.

Luna got to Hermione's house a couple of days later, after spending some time with her father. She really wished that the man would leave _The Rookery _every so often. Luna thought that he'd be much saner that way.

"When I got home, Dad tried to question me about our relationship," said Hermione, after they brought Luna's belongings to the guest room.

"And what did you say?"

"I told him that I love you," said Hermione, kissing her girlfriend. "I told him that you are the sweetest, most brilliant, oddest, wonderful person I've ever met."

Luna kissed her girlfriend for that compliment. Luna ended up getting along quite well with the Grangers, especially Emma, who seemed to be an older version of Hermione. Dan Granger seemed to have Hermione's mind, just different looks.

Luna knew what to do then. She researched Muggle politicians, and wrote some good material using them based on the type of things that her father wrote. Things like how such and such a politician was an alien, or that person was under the influence of the Nargles. Things like that.

Daniel Granger's reactions to her statements were more amusing than Hermione's.

Over the next couple of days, Hermione introduced Luna to all sorts of Muggle things, like London, theme parks, the Underground, clothing stores.

Luna could tell that Hermione didn't like clothes shopping. It was very obvious. Luna, on the other hand, was amazed that there was a store that large full of clothes. And it was so inexpensive compared to the Wizarding World.

"I wish that there were some way to buy clothes on demand," said Hermione. "Where I simply put it my sizes, and a piece of clothing gets sent to me."

"I've heard people who think that the Internet is going to be like that someday," mentioned Emma, who was acting as their transport. "Maybe in 5-20 years at the earliest."

"Damn, it's too bad I'm still underage," complained Hermione. "I'd just buy a bag and cast Undetectable Extensions Charms and Featherweight Charms on it. That way, we wouldn't have to haul all this around."

"If you were at my house," said Luna, "You would be able to. The Ministry can only detect Magic. They can't tell who's casting the magic. My house is a known Wizard Residence."

"What?" asked Hermione. "You mean that the Purebloods have an exception, again?"

"Of course," said Luna. "The Ministry depends on parents to keep their children in line."

\\\/

After a while in the Muggle world, Luna and Hermione went to The Rookery, where Hermione met Luna's father, a man who truly looked like an older, male, version of Luna. He seemed to be even more strange than his daughter.

"Mummy was always the sane one in the family," Luna said later that night. "Once she died, Daddy started to believe even more in all of the animals, the conspiracy theories, and everything he printed in the paper. It was all quite sad. I'm not sure whether he will ever be more sane again."

Hermione noticed that Luna had a mural of the two of them on her ceiling, liked by a chain that said 'Best Friends'. It was rather odd seeing her own face staring down at her.

"I wasn't sure how to do the animation charms, see," said Luna. "Otherwise, it would've been a fully moving portrait."

"Your mum must've been wonderful," said Hermione.

"Oh, she was," said Luna, longing in her voice. "Unfortunately, I was there when _it_ happened. When she cast the spell."

"Oh, Lu'," exclaimed Hermione, hugging her girlfriend. "I will always be here for you."

Luna smiled a little. She knew that, and was comforted by that.

\\\/

The girls met Harry and the Weasleys in Diagon Alley a couple of days later. They had just gotten money from Gringotts when they heard explosions.

_What the fuck is that,_ thought Luna. She could see the same expression on her companions' faces. They drew their wands, and rushed into the Alley.

"Our duel was cut short last time, Potter," called Ronald Weasley, wearing the robes of a Death Eater. "Are you prepared to die?"

"At your hands?" asked Harry sarcastically. "I think not."

Hermione and Luna aimed at Ron, who was joined by Bellatrix Lestrange. They started to fire spells at each other.

"I know what happened in the DoM, Luna," called Harry. "Use something a little more dangerous if you could, please."

This got Luna in the right state of mind to use some of the higher-powered spells she knew. She also realised that no matter what happened, she was likely not going to leave the battlefield under her own power.

Neville showed up a few minutes later, and started to engage Bellatrix who, despite her extreme skill, was having a hard time fighting off three people of extraordinary skill.

It was then that Ron attacked Harry again. Harry ducked, causing the spell to fly over his head, raining down bricks from a nearby building. Harry banished the debris at Ron, and Ron flew back.

Harry saw that Ron hadn't died yet, so he cast _Sectumsempra _at the Death Eater, which caused Ron to die quite painfully.

"You tortured my parents, prepare to die," chanted Neville in between spells. Bellatrix was having a hard time evading very lethal spells from four different sources. Neville cast a Reductor to her chest, and she flew backwards.

He disarmed her, and stood over her. "I could kill you, you realise that," said Neville. "I just won't kill you. Not yet."

He turned to Harry. "Should I blow her limbs off or completely wipe her mind to start?"

"You know how to do that?" asked Harry.

"Well, no," said Neville. "But that doesn't exactly matter now does it?"

He then decided to blow off her limbs, and then used a nasty spell to remove all of her hair. She was almost orgasmically screaming in pain as he did this.

"I guess she gets off on pain," commented Neville. Harry started to cast a couple of spells that Hermione didn't even know that he knew, and was joined by Neville.

The two boys grasped hands and said, "Together!" before casting the spells that ended Bellatrix's life.

Harry and Neville were exhausted, but running on adrenaline, as were Hermione and Luna. "Let's go check the rest of the Alley!" called Harry, and they rushed through the Alley.

They could see bodies littering the streets, some of which were recognisable, like the Malfoys or Lupin. When they got near the Leaky Cauldron, they saw Voldemort facing off against Dumbledore again.

All of a sudden, a giant buffalo appeared over Voldemort's head and fell on him. The buffalo quickly disappeared and Harry rushed in to help Dumbledore. Together, they cast a cutting charm that removed Voldemort's head, killing him for good.

A great cheer came from the survivors as they saw what happened, just as Harry and the others collapsed from magical exhaustion.

\\\/

It was later that day that the children woke up.

"You didn't have too many major injuries," said the Healer examining them. "You were just exhausted. You four cast a lot of magic. You cast more magic in a couple of minutes than I usually cast in a month. And your cores are recovering nicely, too."

Luna looked around to see that Harry and Hermione were in beds right next to her, but that both were awake. She noticed that Hermione was looking around as well, looking confused.

"There are Muggle-repelling charms on this tent, Miss Granger," said the Healer, as if she was reading Hermione's mind.

The tent seemed to be an entire floor of a hospital. It was very much bigger-on-the-inside.

"Now, I'd like you four to take it easy for at least 24 hours," said the Healer. "Don't stress yourself for about another week, and you should be good, medically. You lot are very lucky. There aren't many people who've taken on both Bellatrix Lestrange and You-Know-Who and lived to tell the tale."

The Healer walked off, and Albus Dumbledore came over to their beds. "You brave children," he said lovingly.

"How many died, Headmaster?" asked Harry.

"Too many," said Dumbledore. "On both sides. So far, we've found Severus, the Malfoys, Lupin, and Tonks, and we're trying to sort out who each of the other dead are."

"I killed three people today, Headmaster," admitted Harry, sadly. "I killed my former best friend, I helped to kill Bellatrix Lestrange, and I helped to kill Tom."

"It is the fact that you feel sadness, remorse for those that have been killed that sets you apart from Tom and his Death Eaters," said Dumbledore wisely. "I once had to do battle with an old friend. He remains in prison for his crimes."

\\\/

"You're thinking about Harry, aren't you," asked Luna a couple of days later.

"He's my best friend, and my brother, 'Lu," replied Hermione. "He just killed the first friend that he ever had that was our age. I can't imagine what it must be like to kill three people in one day."

"I just worry that you'll go back to him," said Luna.

"Don't you ever think that, Lu," said Hermione. "I don't love him that way. You are the most important person in my life. I would kill a Death Eater for you. I would never do that to you. Harry would never do that to you. He loves us both too much to interfere in our love life."

A few days after Voldemort's defeat, the girls received a couple of letters. The first was from Hermione's parents, inviting them to join them for a holiday in Paris. The other was the more sombre news of the Will Reading of Sirius Black, that both of them were invited to (read: required to attend).

Hermione looked at Luna for a moment and then accepted both letters.

"Paris will be fun," said Luna. "They have the second largest Magical Alley there."

"There's also the Eiffel Tower, and the museums, and all that stuff," said Hermione. "The Muggles call it the 'City of Love' as they find it romantic."

"Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren't you, 'Mione?" asked Luna.

\\\/

Sirius' will gave Hermione and Luna both exorbitant amounts of money, along with their pick of books from the Black Library.

Harry received the title of Lord Black, Number 12, a ludicrous amount of money, and various possessions.

A couple of days later, Luna and Hermione were on their way to Paris. They ended up having quite a good time there, going to museums and the magical alley.

\\\/

It was sad when Luna and Hermione had to go their separate ways after being within feet of each other nearly the entire summer. Luna was starting her OWL year, and Hermione was starting her sixth year. They wouldn't be able to have classes together at all.

After the meal, Dumbledore gave his announcements. "We are welcoming an old friend back to the castle: please welcome Professor Slughorn, who will be taking over potions and as Head of Slytherin House."

The roar of approval was overwhelming. Everyone had hated Snape.

"Due to the fact that our previous Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher was severely injured at the end of the year, she has decided not to join us," said Dumbledore to just as much applause. "Taking her place will be Professor Kingsley Shacklebolt on loan from the Aurors."

There was a polite applause for the Afro-Caribbean Auror. Hermione figured that his classes would be good—he'd assigned decent textbooks.

"This summer, Mr Potter and I defeated Lord Voldemort," said Dumbledore to shudders and roaring applause. "There were many casualties on both sides. I would like to have a moment of silence to remember those who were killed."

He looked at his watch, and after a minute, he concluded his speech. "Well, I should think that I've bored you quite long enough. You have classes in the morning to prepare for, so pip pip off to bed. Prefects and Head Students, please lead the first-years to their dormitories."

Luna got up from the Ravenclaw table and saw that Hermione was leading the Gryffindor First Years up to the Common Room. Hermione waved, and Luna waved back.

\\\/

That year was free of any distractions of tournaments or crazy dictatorial professors or threats from Voldemort, so Luna and Hermione spent a lot of time together. It was almost disconcerting for Hermione when her girlfriend, a year younger than her, was able to point out things in the texts that she hadn't noticed.

Or fix grammar that Hermione didn't even notice needed to be fixed.

And Hermione was able to quiz Luna on nearly everything she needed to know about the exams. Their relationship was quite strong, and Hermione intended on proposing the minute that Luna turned seventeen.

Harry was also doing quite well with his schoolwork. Being an Auror was a secondary career choice for Harry now. He'd already killed too many people, and wasn't sure that he could do that again. That said, he was getting top grades in all of his classes, including potions, now that Snape was no longer teaching.

"Maybe I'll do Quidditch for a couple of years, and reevaluate from there," he told Hermione. He admitted that there were some times that he felt guilty, and that he had nightmares of the battles, but that he was still mostly fit mentally.

The next year, Hermione was made Head Girl, and proceeded to abuse the associated privileges quite often. The Head Girl had her own dormitory office, so Luna was often there. This was technically against the rules, but all of the professors turned a blind eye. Some of her Ravenclaw classmates complained that she spent as much time in Gryffindor Tower as she did in Ravenclaw Tower. They conveniently forgot that they'd been bullying her and trying to get her to leave for the past five years.

Hermione and Luna had advanced their relationship to sleeping in the same bed, just sleeping. Professor Flitwick knew of this behaviour, but did not complain, seeing as his Ravenclaws' abuse of Luna had been pointed out to him.

\\\/

Luna's birthday was on a Friday that year, so Hermione wanted to make it a weekend long combined Luna's birthday and Valentine's Day celebration.

"I have your biggest present for you after dinner," said Hermione on 13 February 1998. "But I have a couple of presents for you now. It's not every day that someone turns 17, is it?"

Hermione produced a pile of gifts from her bag. It always amazed Luna how much bigger-on-the-inside Hermione had made the bag. She unwrapped her gifts to find an enchanted leg razor, and a multitude of books about the Muggle world that were written by the foremost experts on Muggles: Muggle-borns, Muggle family members of Magicals, and Squibs.

"Thank you," exclaimed Luna, jumping to hug her girlfriend. "How the hell can you top this?"

"You'll see," replied Hermione, with a coy grin. "Just come to the Gryffindor Common Room after dinner."

"SURPRISE!" screamed everybody as Luna walked in. She seemed to be happy that everyone liked her so much. In the middle of the party, Hermione pulled Luna off to the side a little bit, got down on one knee, and took a box out of her bigger-on-the-inside pockets.

"Luna Selene Lovegood, you are most important person in my life, and I would like to go Crumpled-Horn Snorkack hunting with you," Hermione said. "Luna Lovegood, will you make me the happiest woman on this planet by agreeing to marry me?"

"Oh, Hermione, you can't be the happiest woman on the planet, because that's me!" replied Luna. "But of course, I will allow you on a Hunt."

She laughed at the look on Hermione's face. "Of course I will marry you." Hermione put the ring on Luna's finger, and the room started to applaud. There were squeals and other various noises when the girls started to kiss.

That night, after the party was over, Luna and Hermione were in the Head Dormitory. "I really am going to miss this, you know," she said.

"What?"

"The room, being able to be with you all the time," replied Luna.

"Don't tell anyone, but Professor McGonagall has offered me an apprenticeship," said Hermione. "She and I would split the classes for a few years, and we would work together on an Advanced Transfiguration project. That means, you only have to leave if you want to."

"I'd like that," said Luna. "Would it be one of those deals where you have to stay here a certain amount of time?"

"No," said Hermione. "Either of us can end it when we want. It even comes with a small stipend, and quarters. Quarters that are not connected to the host teacher's quarters."

"Take it," said Luna. "This is one of the best things to happen to you."

"I know,"

\\\/

A couple of months later, Hermione left the school for the last time as a student, and with some of the highest marks known to Wizardkind. Privately, Dumbledore had told her that her grades were likely to be just a few points behind his and that was saying something.

Harry had also gotten good marks, which were not quite as good as Hermione's.

Luna had managed to convince her father to leave The Rookery, and it seemed to be doing him some good. From what Luna could tell, her father was a lot more coherent than he had been in a while. He was waiting for her at the train station.

Hermione met her parents at the train station. She had told them about her engagement, and her actions getting off the train confirmed it, as Hermione was holding her fiancée's hand. They kissed before going over to meet Hermione's parents.

"Mum, Dad, this is my fiancée, Luna Lovegood," introduced Hermione, even though they'd met last summer and a couple of summers ago.

"Congratulations," said Emma Granger. "You have to tell us all about it."

"And don't forget to tell them your other news, as well," mentioned Luna.

"What other news?" asked Dan Granger, in the tone that clearly stated that he would not be happy if certain words were the next ones out of her mouth.

"Professor McGonagall wants to take me on as an apprentice," said Hermione. "It is a great honour, and is a path to becoming a teacher at the school."

Both of the Granger parents hugged their daughter, telling her how proud they were of her.

That night, Luna and her father came over for dinner. "So, what is the magical world's view on...this?"

"On gay people?" asked Xeno. "There are spells available for female gay people to have children, and we believe that they are perfectly able to have a family and get married. It's really only a subset of the Muggle-borns that have a problem with that."

"Spells to have children?" asked Dan, intrigued.

"For women, there is a spell that mixes the magical essence of the two parents," said Xeno knowingly.

"Think mixing DNA, dad," said Hermione.

"What happens when two men fall in love?" followed up Dan. "I know that one of Hermione's friends likes another guy."

"There is a spell for men," said Xeno. "But it requires a host. The two men choose a carrier, generally a poor, uneducated girl, and use the spell to implant an embryo in the female. It pays rather a lot, but each girl can only go through the procedure once. All other pregnancies have to be done the normal way."

"So there's no such thing as male pregnancy?"

"Merlin's beard, no!" laughed Xeno. "Only in the tabloids that print material even more outrageous than my paper."

"Is there a limit with two girls?" asked Dan, wanting to know how many possible grandchildren he could have.

"Only a self-imposed one," said Xeno.

Luna looked over at her fiancée and smiled.

\\\/ Epilogue: 19 years later

Luna and Hermione Lovegood-Granger had been married eighteen years. Their marriage had produced three children, the last of which was now entering Hogwarts.

They were on the platform, saying goodbye to their children, when Luna saw Draco, along with his wife (whom Luna didn't recognise), and their three children. She whispered to Rose, their youngest, "You beat them on every test, okay?"

"Don't go spoiling them against the Malfoys," said Hermione. "Astoria is a perfectly nice woman, and her children are nice as well."

"What if I'm in Slytherin or worse, Ravenclaw?" asked Rose timidly.

"Rose, you are smart enough for Ravenclaw," said Hermione. "If you keep your mind in this world, you won't face any problems. In any case, whichever House you get in to will receive a wonderful young woman. You can ask it for Gryffindor if you want. It doesn't mean that it will acquiesce to your request, but you can try."

"Okay, mummy," said Rose.

"Go find your brothers," said Luna. "Have a good time, learn a lot, and go Gryffindor!"

Rose laughed as she went to find her brothers Daniel and Sirius.

Daniel was a Gryffindor fifth year, and a prefect. He was good on a broom, but also loved to learn.

Sirius was a Hufflepuff third year. He was the star chaser for the Hufflepuff team the previous years. Sirius, however, was quite similar to the person he was named after, as he loved to create trouble.

Rose, of course, was entering into her first year at the school. Both of her mothers had a suspicion that Gryffindor was in her future. She was quiet and kind, and had read most of the library at least once. However, there was that spark of Gryffindor-ness in her that they hoped the Hat could find.

"I can't believe that they're all at Hogwarts now," said Hermione.

"I know," said Luna. "Time flies so quickly."

Luna had lost contact with her interdimensional creatures a while back—shortly after leaving Hogwarts for the last time as a student. She was a lot less strange because of it, but it always felt to her as though something was missing. But her head was more in this world, so all was well.

A/N: For epilogues two and three, see Chapter 2

Luna is 513 days (1 year, 4 months and 25 days) younger than Hermione: 19 September 1979 and 13 February 1981

In a previous draft, the Common Room blowup was a lot bigger than it turned out to be, and Luna actually used the Killing Curse to defeat Dolohov and then mused how Harry wasn't able to get a revenge shot in (at Bellatrix)

In a previous draft of this chapter [Luna's perspective], she had a blowup in Flitwick's office, accusing him of not doing anything against her bullying. She then went to Dumbledore's office and explained everything, and Hogwarts itself removed her from Ravenclaw (EDIT: turned into parts of a new story involving Lunar Harmony H/Hr/L)

Hermione turns 17 on 19 September 1996 (at the beginning of sixth year), Luna turns 17 on 13 February 1998 (Hermione's seventh year, Luna's sixth year)

OMAKE (Additional scene not in continuity):

Hermione brought Luna's trunk into the Head Girl dormitory, and opened it. Her trunk was very much bigger-on-the-inside, and had what looked to be a very large arsenal of Muggle weapons. It was mostly guns and similar, but there were semi-automatics and automatics and gatling guns (properly: miniguns).

"What the hell is all this?" asked Hermione.

"That's my arsenal in case we're ever under attack," said Luna. "You might notice that there's a costume in there, as well. I've been reading a lot of comics the last couple of summers."

"How the hell did you import these?" asked Hermione. "Most of these, if not all of these, are illegal in Britain for personal use."

"I have connections," said Luna. "Friends in low places. You can call me Hit-Girl."

"I knew giving you _those _comics was a bad idea," said Hermione. "Why couldn't you have read something nice like Spiderman?"


End file.
